tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25970111666563369852024-03-15T16:17:23.672-07:00Dilip Simeon's blogIt has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow human beings: M. K. Gandhi / People all seek to know what they do not know yet; They ought rather seek to know what they know already-Zhuang Zhou / If a person ain't careful; they can make a profession out of revenge: Godless, TV serial
NB: Explore my blog by clicking'LABELS' & 'ARCHIVE' on the top LEFT PANEL. You can also use the SEARCH function on top. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9520125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-18861061868889345492022-08-07T22:59:00.011-07:002023-01-06T21:13:15.174-08:00After the Truth Shower<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dear Readers</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thank you for reading my blog for the past eleven years. (This is <a href="https://wordpress.com/view/dsimian.com"><span style="color: red;">a link</span></a> to the new one) During this time it has had nearly 1.7 million hits; and I have posted over 9500 posts covering a variety of themes. From July 11 to 19, 2022, my blog was withdrawn by the Blogger administration on account of what its machinery suspected to be 'Impersonation'. It took over a week and the efforts of several well-wishers to get it back online</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I thank them all for their kindness and goodwill </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My blog has always been - and remains - non-commercial. I have used it for academic purposes; and to foster a culture of debate and informed commentary in civil society. Because it contains a large amount of material gathered and collated for over a decade, I cannot afford to lose its contents. I hope it will remain undisturbed now and function as an archive. However, I have decided to use a new blog on WordPress as a platform for my newest comments and posts</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The new blog is titled <a href="https://dsimian.com/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">After the Truth Shower</span></a>. Aside from fresh posts, it will carry an archive of about 1200 older posts (which is all that could be uploaded from Blogger, with the help of some friends).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The new blog will also carry live links to t</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">his older blog. I will maintain it, so you can keep reading it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I will </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">also transfer some educational content from the old to the new blog. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 362 followers of my blog are warmly invited to subscribe to </span><a href="https://dsimian.com/"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">After the Truth Shower</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">With regards to all</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dilip </span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-67819188802594345282022-08-05T02:27:00.001-07:002022-08-05T02:27:09.035-07:00Chandan Gowda: India 2047<span style="font-family: verdana;">Politics sits on people’s minds as lightly as a jasmine flower. Things couldn’t be otherwise: trustworthy and sensitive individuals are in charge of the state; they run the government in ways that don’t disturb the lives of the people. Since only the most virtuous are in political life, every political party is filled with good people who have a great love for the country and a deep understanding of its realities. It is therefore tough to tell one party from the other.<br /><br />Indeed, opposition parties exist since the people wish to ensure that the ruling party gets a break after having selflessly attended to the work of government for a full term. And, for its part, a ruling party looks forward to sharing the opportunity to serve the people with another party. Although parties take turns at running the government, they work together at all times.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">All cards are on the table and the government doesn’t take a step without the legislators from all parties walking along with them. As a happy consequence, the wisest decisions are arrived at always and, contrary to intuition, fairly quickly too. When the discussions do go on for long at times, they will seem to have been worth the time.<br /><br />As the possession of power doesn’t make a difference to how one sees his or her own place in the world, the political life is solely about securing the wellbeing of all and ensuring that no one feels wronged. Rarely does anyone complain about being short-changed in favour of someone else. Further, the polity is designed such that political figures at all levels - centre, state, district, taluk and village - are seen to be doing equally significant work. The happy ties of co-operation between them all seem like the most natural thing.<br /><br />Elections are simple matters, and cost little. The political parties invariably field men and women of brilliance and integrity. Close to the election date, on a public platform, all the candidates share their ideas of what needs to be done. The voters really face a tough job of choosing from among these very eligible candidates, but choose they must in the end. The fine personalities of the political candidates have made elections a low-risk affair.<br /><br />Of course, the amazingly lovely polity isn’t an accidental achievement. People came to prize the quest for a creative and meaningful life more than anything else and felt that everyone should be able to follow such a quest. The previous jaded polity then began to change in beautiful ways.<br /><br />Miraculous turns were in fact seen everywhere. The judiciary and the police, which work freely without outside interference, came to have less and less work to do with the disputes among people getting fewer. The natural environment recovered its vigour and now breathes as it did a few centuries ago: the forest cover has grown and grown and the rivers and air have become clean beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since economists work together with ecologists, writers, tribals and agriculturists, they have carved up the country into bio-ecological regions to ensure that people find most of what they want within these small sized regions. Tribal and rural communities now have real control over their destiny. Apart from bringing about a fulfilling symbiosis between the producers and consumers, the small-scale economies also help conserve the energy spent on moving goods across long distances.<br /><br />Building ecologically based regional economies created tons of meaningful work and volunteering opportunities locally, removing any scope for a few regions to siphon off the profits from the rest. And, so, the villages have got back their groove. The towns and cities too radiate a healthful presence.<br /><br />Communities - religious, caste, tribal, linguistic - are unfailingly good towards each other and their differences not seen as high or low. Making for a delightful culture of reciprocity, individual self-sacrifice for community well-being is as common as the community willingness to let individuals find self-realization on their own. <br /><br />India is truly a soulful place</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/india-2047-1131579.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/india-2047-1131579.html</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/chandan-gowda-humanism-of-siddalingaiah.html">Chandan
Gowda: The humanism of Siddalingaiah (1954-2021)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/10/chandan-gowda-on-dr-nagaraj-wonder-of.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Chandan
Gowda on D.R. Nagaraj: The wonder of retrieval</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-58391716876815973012022-08-04T22:20:00.041-07:002022-08-04T23:10:34.463-07:00Simon Jenkins: In Taiwan, as in Ukraine, the west is flirting with disaster<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB</b>: The flag of 'freedom and democracy' is wearing a bit thin on Western shoulders. The list of criminal interventions on other countries + nuclear tests in the Pacific + war crimes is very long indeed. Vietnam (1963-75); Iran (1953); Bikini atoll and Marina islands; Chile (1973), Argentina (support of military dictators); wars in Iraq; long standing support for the apartheid regime in South Africa; support for Yahya Khans military genocide in Bangladesh (East Pakistan, 1970-71); the assassination of Mujibur Rehman - these a re just a few of the prominent examples. And their permanent alliance with the brutal Saudi Arabian regime shows that democracy is not exactly on top of their diplomatic agenda. <br /><br />As to the CIA involvement in the <a href="#">global heroin trade</a>, the less said the better. Maybe the freedom to die of heroin addiction is included in the western list of liberties<br /><br />Meanwhile the totalitarian disdain for justice, human rights and truth has been exemplified by the Soviet (and post Soviet) regime; and the People's Republic of China as well. Apologists for these regimes should wake up and stop their stupid propaganda. Many may not recall the Chinese invasion of the DRV ('North Vietnam') in 1979, an attempt at military terrorism inspired by the DRV's overthrow of the brutal Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. The PRC treats Tibet like a colony, and has recently been found to be terrorizing the Uighur population.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Going back in time, the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956; and of Czechoslovakia in 1968 to overthrow communist regimes that were getting too democratic for their taste; the Soviet inspired martial law in Poland in 1981 to stop a workers movement for an independent trade union; and the Tien An Men massacre in Beijing in 1989, are just a few examples of their terrorist nature. As to the mass murder unleashed by the communist regimes under Stalin and Mao, words fail us. There is to much to say, and much historical research for anyone interested.<br /><br />Readers can study all this if they wish, I have posted about these matters often and will attach a few links. Here all I will say is this: these regimes are involved in war crimes and human rights violations on both a global and a continental scale. All these crimes are dressed up in doctrines which are pure propaganda - it's is the public willingness to tolerate lies and nonsense that is dangerous. The democratic minded public the world over should discard their stupid fascination with nationalism, which Einstein rightly called 'the measles of mankind'; and begin thinking and campaigning for global peace, disarmament and urgent action against global warming. War will poison the environment at an ever increasing pace. Stop this madness and stop telling lies about the beauty of communism, capitalism etc. Its all bullshit. <b>DS</b><br /><br /><a href="#">Simon Jenkins: In Taiwan, as in Ukraine, the west is flirting with disaster</a><br /><br />Arguments in the foothills of war are always the same. Those for war shout loudest and beat their chests, eager for tanks to rumble and jets to roar. Those against are dismissed as wimps, appeasers and defeatists. When the trumpets sound and the drums beat, reason runs for cover.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/03/nancy-pelosi-in-taiwan-calls-for-calm-in-asia-as-us-china-tensions-rise-north-korea-south-korea">visit to Taiwan</a> of the US congressional speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has been so blatantly provocative it seems little more than a midterm election stunt. She <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/02/pelosi-oped-defends-taiwan-visit">declares</a> it “essential that America and her allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats”. China’s gross overreaction is a classic example of precipitate escalation. Yet when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/biden-taiwan-china-us-defence">Joe Biden asserted</a> that the US would defend Taiwan militarily, the president’s office instantly backtracked, reasserting a policy of “strategic ambiguity”. It remains the case that no one quite believes the US will go to war over Taiwan – so far.<br /><br />A similar ambiguity infuses the west’s attitude towards Russia over Ukraine. The US and Britain reiterate that Russia “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/19/russia-johnson-munich-security-conference-putin-ukraine">must fail and be seen to fail</a>”. But can Russia really be relied on to tolerate ever greater destruction of its armaments without escalation? The west seems set on holding Ukraine to a drawn game, hoping to postpone some horrific penalty shootout. All Russia can do is perpetrate ever more atrocities to keep its team in play. Suppose it escalates something else?<br /><br />These are the same uncertainties that overwhelmed European diplomacy in 1914. Rulers dithered while generals strutted and rattled sabres. Flags flew and newspapers filled with tallies of weaponry. Negotiations slithered into ultimatums. As the frontline pleaded for help, woe betide anyone who preached compromise. During the two east-west nuclear crises of the cold war, in 1962 over Cuba and 1983 over a false missile alarm, disaster was averted by informal lines of communication between Washington and Moscow. They worked. Those lines reportedly do not exist today. The eastern bloc is led by two autocrats, internally secure but paranoid about their borders...<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/03/taiwan-nancy-pelosi-visit-ukraine-us</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/11/mohammed-hanif-rest-of-world-has-had-it.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mohammed Hanif: The rest of the world has had it with US presidents, Trump or otherwise</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-political-function-of-modern-lie.html"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Alexandre Koyré The Political Function of
the Modern Lie</span></a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/julien-benda-our-age-is-age-of.html"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Julien Benda: Our age is the age of the intellectual organization
of political hatreds</span></a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/stanislav-markelov-patriotism-as.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">STANISLAV MARKELOV - Patriotism as a
diagnosis</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/07/victor-jara-murder-ex-military-officers.html"><span lang="EN-US">Victor Jara murder: ex-military officers sentenced in Chile for 1973 death</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/10/andrew-bacevich-high-crimes-and.html"><span lang="EN-US">Andrew Bacevich: High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/05/conversation-with-lawrence-lifschultz.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Conversation with Lawrence Lifschultz: The American reporter who investigated the assassination of Mujibur Rahman</span></a></p></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/is-united-states-about-to-lose-control.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is the United States about to lose control of its secretive Diego Garcia military base?</span></a></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/07/victor-jara-murder-ex-military-officers.html">Victor Jara murder: ex-military officers sentenced in Chile for 1973 death</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/chris-hedges-israels-big-lie-this-isnt.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Chris Hedges
- Israel's big lie: This isn't self defense, it's a war crime, aided and
abetted by the U.S.</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/04/guantanamo-bay-president-obamas-shame.html">Guantanamo Bay- Obama's shame: The
forgotten prisoners of America's own Gulag</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><br />
</span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/vanessa-thorpe-mi-6-coup-in-iran-that.html"><span lang="EN-US">Vanessa Thorpe: MI 6, the coup in Iran that changed
the Middle East, and the cover-up</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/01/donald-trumps-gift-to-america-realizing.html">Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've
never been a liberal democracy. By PAUL ROSENBERG</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/mauritius-formally-challenges-britains.html"><span lang="EN-US">Mauritius formally
challenges Britain’s ownership of Chagos Islands</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-break-up-of-britain-us-today.html">The Break-Up of Britain / The US today resembles the Soviet Union just
before it fell</a> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/book-review-politics-of-heroin-cia.html">Book
review: The Politics of Heroin - CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/06/uki-goni-grandmothers-36-year-hunt-for.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Uki
Goñi - A grandmother's 36-year hunt for the child stolen by the Argentinian
junta</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/zack-stanton-violent-christian.html"><span lang="EN-US">Zack Stanton: Violent Christian Extremism in the USA</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/05/daniel-lewis-daniel-j-berrigan-defiant.html">DANIEL LEWIS - Daniel J. Berrigan,
Defiant Priest Who Preached Pacifism, Dies at<i> </i>94 // Catonsville 9
Statement written by Dan Berrigan, S.J.</a></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/07/steve-bannon-documentary-brink-will.html">Steve Bannon Documentary, 'The Brink',
Will Leave You Cold</a></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/us-dark-money-groups-spend-millions.html">US ‘dark money’ groups spend million+s
overseas in support of campaigns to limit or ban rights for women and LGBTQ
people</a></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/indigenous-americans-demand-reckoning.html">Indigenous Americans demand a reckoning
with brutal colonial history</a></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/05/remembering-fall-of-saigon-45-years-on.html">JAMES SPRINGER: Remembering the Fall of
Saigon, 45 years on</a></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/george-monbiot-asymmetric-force-pegasus.html"><span lang="EN-GB">George
Monbiot - Asymmetric force: Pegasus spyware is the latest tool autocrats are
using to stay in power</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/01/chauncey-devega-trump-is-mentally-ill.html"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Chauncey
DeVega: Trump is mentally ill but our real sickness runs much deeper</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/tom-engelhardt-bidens-indirect.html">Tom Engelhardt: Biden's indirect
admission highlights the steady decline of American empire</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/11/lucian-truscott-trump-wants-to-end.html">Lucian Truscott: Trump wants to end the
forever wars - except the one about oil and money</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/04/tom-dispatch-william-astore-from.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tom Dispatch - William Astore, From
Deterrence to Doomsday? // C. Wright Mills on The Structure of Power in
American Society (1958) // The Week the World Almost Ended</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/04/diego-garcia-chagos-islands-40-years-on.html">Diego
Garcia: the Chagos Islands 40 years on remain a black mark on Britain</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/08/britain-attempts-to-censor-us-report-on.html">Britain
'attempts to censor' US report on torture sites</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/04/nuclear-testing-in-marshall-islands.html">Nuclear
Testing in the Marshall Islands: A Chronology of Events</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/05/nuclear-history-of-bikini-atoll-photos.html">The Nuclear History of Bikini Atoll
(PHOTOS)</a></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/04/britain-destroyed-records-of-colonial.html">Britain destroyed records of colonial
crimes</a></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
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later and islands still unliveable</a></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/hedges-age-of-self-delusion.html">Hedges: The Age of Self-Delusion</a><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/how-with-this-rage-by-chris-hedges-2005.html">How With This Rage. BY CHRIS HEDGES (2005)</a><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/chris-hedges-execution-of-julian.html">CHRIS HEDGES - The execution of Julian Assange: He exposed the crimes of empire; and that can't be tolerated</a><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/01/william-astore-us-militarys-lost-wars.html">William Astore: The U.S. Military’s Lost Wars // Chris Hedges: The American Empire Will Collapse Within a Decade, Two at Most</a><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/chris-hedges-collective-suicide-machine.html">Chris Hedges: The Collective Suicide Machine</a><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-sermon-from-rev-chris-hedges.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jesus sermon from the Rev. Chris Hedges</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/he-killed-party-and-country-chinese.html"><span lang="EN-US">'He killed
a party and a country': a Chinese insider hits out at Xi Jinping</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/07/crises-of-party-culture-by-yang-guang.html"><span lang="EN-US">The
Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/05/book-review-state-as-faction-maos.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Book
review: The State as Faction: Mao’s Cultural Revolution</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/09/book-reviews-tombstone-great-chinese.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Book reviews - ‘Tombstone: The Great Chinese
Famine, 1958-1962,’ by Yang Jisheng</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-return-of-show-trial-chinas.html">The
Return of the Show Trial: China’s Televised “Confessions”. By Magnus Fiskesjö</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/ravi-bhoothalingam-coronavirus-and.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ravi Bhoothalingam: Coronavirus and
the Mandate of Heaven</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-41696798873786730542022-08-03T21:14:00.007-07:002022-08-03T21:14:43.054-07:00Military spending fueling environmental destruction in Ukraine<span style="font-family: verdana;">Just one bomb releases a slew of toxic heavy metals into Ukraine’s soil and groundwater. Now multiply this by thousands. In the U.S., proponents supporting military expansion and increasing defense spending have prevailed despite the more pressing need to divert all available resources to fight the impending disaster being faced by humanity: climate change. While ignoring the climate disaster, the U.S. is not only spending to boast its own military powers but also providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid in its ongoing conflict with Russia.<br /><br />With the war in Ukraine raging on, the U.S. Senate voted 86 to 11 in May and gave its approval to President Joe Biden’s massive additional aid package of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1097883083/how-the-u-s-aid-to-ukraine-is-taking-shape">$40 billion</a> to help Ukraine on top of the <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/03/09/bidens-ukraine-aid-package-is-getting-super-sized-by-congress/">nearly $14 billion</a> authorized just two months prior. This total financial aid package for Ukraine of around $54 billion is now almost as large or larger than the entire <a href="https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/fs_2204_milex_2021_0.pdf">2021 defense budgets</a> of several countries: France’s military budget was $56.6 billion in 2021, Germany’s was $56 billion, Japan’s was $54.1 billion and Australia’s military spending stood at $31.8 billion. In contrast, there are also other ongoing struggles and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/secession-and-independence-movements">attempts by some countries to achieve independence worldwide</a>. They grab little attention and receive no substantial financial support....<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/military-spending-fueling-environmental-destruction/</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/sergei-loznitsa-ukrainian-film-maker.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sergei Loznitsa, the Ukrainian
film-maker who refuses to be cancelled</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/dont-cry-for-me-dostoevsky.html">Don’t
cry for me, Dostoevsky</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/book-review-day-of-oprichnik-16-years.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Book review: Day of the Oprichnik,
16 Years Later</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-cancellation-of-russian-culture-by.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE CANCELLATION OF RUSSIAN CULTURE.
By Gary Saul Morson</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/pb-mehta-ukraine-invasion-has-revealed.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">P.B. Mehta: Ukraine invasion has
revealed a new world disorder</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/juan-cole-us-would-be-on-firmer-ground.html">JUAN
COLE: The US would be on firmer ground declaring Putin a War Criminal if George
W. Bush had been Tried / Aditya Chakrabortty: Western values? They enthroned
the monster who is shelling Ukrainians today</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/rohini-hensman-historical-background-to.html">Rohini
Hensman: The Historical Background to Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine / Chris
Hedges: The Greatest Evil Is War</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/04/fredy-perlman-ten-theses-on.html">10
Theses on the Proliferation of Egocrats (1977)</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-69812843494603314172022-08-01T03:34:00.004-07:002022-08-01T03:39:01.995-07:00Nandini Sundar speaks about protest, dissent, and the struggle for justice in India (audio-visual)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;">An <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEEZMZPlIiY">“in conversation” event</a> with Nandini Sundar, Professor of sociology at the Delhi School of Economics. Topics covered will include recent protest movements, arrests of academics, journalists and activists, and the future of dissent in India. </span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction: </span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dr Gerald Roche, Senior Research Fellow, La Trobe Asia</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Speakers: Professor Nandini Sundar, Sociology, Delhi School of Economics</span></span><div><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">
Dr Ian Woolford, Hindi Studies, La Trobe University</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEEZMZPlIiY"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Protest, Dissent, and the Struggle for Justice in India | La Trobe Asia</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-25257452244557923342022-08-01T02:43:00.060-07:002022-08-01T03:39:43.339-07:00Hindi Writers Slam Police Complaint Against Author Geetanjali Shree / For the first time ever, a book written in an Indian language has won the prestigious Booker Prize<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB:</b> The game is quite easy to understand, really. The Sangh Parivar and its allies wish to set themselves up as sole representative of Hindu 'sentiment'; and the sole interpreter of what Hinduism is. They dream of becoming the Head Quarters of Religious Truth for the Indian people. It is a replica of the harassment of Turkish author and <a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/nobel-laureate-orhan-pamuk-charged.html">Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk</a> by the Erdogan government. And it is similar to the punishment of Boris Pasternak </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">by the Soviet government </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">for writing </span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/06/book-review-zhivago-affair-was-one-of.html" style="font-family: verdana;">Dr Zhivago</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is why they make threats when something outside their ideology (and beyond their comprehension appears); and this is why they use the police and state power to <a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/08/nandini-sundar-speaks-about-protest.html">crush the freedom</a> of the mind. This is why they campaigned against <a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-k-ramanujan-works-dropped-from-new-du.html">A.K. Ramanujan's</a> The Three hundred Ramayanas, and this is why they will not rest until all thought in India has been subjugated by their ideology. They will not succeed. My warmest congratulations to Geetanjali Shree.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><b style="font-family: verdana;">DS</b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Several noted Hindi litterateurs and writers have slammed
the targeting of author Geetanjali Shree nee Pandey through the attempted
registration of an FIR against her in Uttar Pradesh, calling it another
“despicable” moment of great alarm and shame. Shree brought laurels to Indian
literature when the English translation of her work, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Ret Samadhi</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> (</span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Tomb
of Sand</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">), became the first Hindi language novel to win the prestigious
International Booker Prize this year. </span><a href="https://thewire.in/rights/agra-event-geetanjali-shree-cancelled-complaint" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">A complaint was filed against Geetanjali Shree </a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> by
a Hathras resident who claimed that her book </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Ret Samadhi</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> had
hurt Hindu sentiments.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, Hindi writers who have known Shree for years and
have read her works believe that this is just politicking of a very low order.
They also point out that after she won international acclaim, no one in the
government stepped up to congratulate her. Instead, she was unreasonably
targeted on social media as several fundamentalists attacked her because she
had done her post-graduation from Jawaharlal Nehru University.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>‘Instead of being felicitated by the State, Shree was
unfairly targeted’: </b>As well-known Hindi poet and writer Bharat Tiwari said,
“When it comes to Geetanjali Shree, we have seen that since she received the
Booker, and became the first author in Hindi to get one, neither did the Prime
Minister nor the UP chief minister congratulated her. In fact, on social media,
we saw a lot of hate against her – she was described as part of the ‘JNU
gang’.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Everyone knows the tilt of the state. They would have been
on the hunt for an opportunity, on the lookout for something in her work to
target her with and create a controversy,” he said, referring to the
registration of the FIR, which led to the cancellation of a felicitation
programme she was invited to in Agra....</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://thewire.in/books/noted-hindi-writers-fir-booker-winning-author-geetanjali-shree"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://thewire.in/books/noted-hindi-writers-fir-booker-winning-author-geetanjali-shree</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2022/jun/05/gitanjali-geetanjali-2461085.html">Gitanjali, Geetanjali</a> For the first time ever, a book written in an Indian language has won the prestigious Booker Prize, Geetanjali Shree's Ret Samadhi or Tomb of Sand...</span></p><p><a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2022/jun/05/gitanjali-geetanjali-2461085.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2022/jun/05/gitanjali-geetanjali-2461085.html</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/09/rudyard-kipling-critical-essay-by.html"><span lang="EN-US">Rudyard Kipling: critical essay by
George Orwell (1942)</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/06/book-review-zhivago-affair-was-one-of.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Book
review: ‘The Zhivago Affair’ was one of the most fascinating of the Cold War’s
cultural skirmishes // Boris Pasternak's refusal of The Nobel Prize. His son's
memoirs</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20K%20Ramanujan%27s%20Three%20Hundred%20Ramayanas">A K Ramanujan's Three Hundred Ramayanas</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk81122376"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/if-you-want-picture-of-future-imagine.html"><span lang="EN-IN">"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a
human face, forever" - George Orwell’s Final Warning</span></a><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/george-orwell-literature-and.html"><span lang="EN-US">George
Orwell: Literature and Totalitarianism (1941)</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/11/george-orwell-freedom-of-park-1945.html"><span lang="EN-US">George Orwell - Freedom of the Park
(1945)</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/george-orwell-reviews-mein-kampf-he.html"><span lang="EN-US">George Orwell Reviews Mein Kampf:
“He Envisages a Horrible Brainless Empire” (1940)</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/nobel-laureate-orhan-pamuk-charged.html"><span lang="EN-US">Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk charged
again with ‘insulting Turkishness’ / Complaint filed against Indian comedian
Vir Das for his allegedly anti-India show</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/10/ashutosh-bhardwaj-in-forest-voice-on.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ashutosh
Bhardwaj - In the forest, a voice: On Diwali, Ramayana show us the light, warn
us against darkness // Pratishtha Pandya: Forgive me (a poem)</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/gauri-lankesh-abnormality-is-becoming.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gauri Lankesh: ‘Abnormality is
becoming the new normal in Karnataka’ // ‘Murder of democracy, climate of hate,
intolerance complicit’</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-mighty-heart-death-and-life-of-gauri.html"><span lang="EN-US">A mighty heart - The death and life
of Gauri Lankesh // Virago, not martyr</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/over-10000-rally-in-bengaluru-declare-i.html"><span lang="EN-US">Over 10,000 at protest rally in
Bengaluru, declare: I am Gauri // BJP Sends Legal Notice To Ramachandra Guha</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-dare-they-celebrate-this-is-our.html"><span lang="EN-US">“How dare they celebrate, this is
our India, we will not allow this to happen.” People of Bengaluru defend Indian
democracy</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/10/anna-politkovskaya-award-shared-by.html"><span lang="EN-US">Anna Politkovskaya Award shared by
Pakistani Activist and Gauri Lankesh</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/raghu-karnad-indian-liberals-must-die_13.html"><span lang="EN-US">RAGHU KARNAD: Indian Liberals Must
Die. Gauri Lankesh and the vernacular Indian left</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-eloquence-of-silence-choice-is.html"><span lang="EN-US">The eloquence of silence - The
choice is between speaking up and keeping quiet. By Samantak Das</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/journalist-gets-threat-for-criticising.html"><span lang="EN-US">Journalist gets threat for
criticising a Modi Govt scheme. Is reminded of Gauri Lankesh's fate</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/07/gauri-lankeshs-kannada-news-website.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gauri Lankesh’s Kannada news website
banned by Facebook?</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/edward-snowden-everything-going-great.html"><span lang="EN-US">Edward Snowden - Everything Going
Great: Bad Faith, Worse News and Julian Assange</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-24768146244763589832022-08-01T02:06:00.005-07:002022-08-01T02:06:24.923-07:00John Gray: the nationalist philosopher stoking ‘culture wars’ fires. By Jon Bloomfield<span style="font-family: verdana;">There’s a battle under way at the heart of British politics and reactionaries are in the ascendancy. With the Brexit wind in their sails, when an issue of history or culture comes into prominence, they set the terms of the debate. Whether it is the singing of Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia on the closing night of the Proms; history teaching in schools; statues in public spaces: the Right has a consistent story to tell and they find plenty of places to say it. Whether it is tub-thumpers like Richard Littlejohn, Rod Liddle and Toby Young; opportunist academics like Matthew Goodwin and Eric Kaufman; or Etonian intellectuals like Douglas Murray and David Goodhart, they tell a common story about Britain’s proud past that is now being trashed by ‘metropolitan liberal elitists’ and the ‘woke’ mob who are threatening our ancient liberties.<br /><br />In response, progressives are allowing themselves to be distracted and pigeon-holed, ignoring the economic and social content of many women’s, race and environmental issues or paying excessive attention to relatively fringe topics. In the process, the traditional alliance between manual workers, the public sector and middle class intellectuals is being torn asunder to the delight of the cultural conservatives. A pivotal but rarely discussed figure in this assault has been John Gray...<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/john-gray-the-nationalist-philosophe-stoking-culture-wars-fires/</a><br /><br /><br />Articles <a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/search?q=john+gray">by John Gray</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/stanislav-markelov-patriotism-as.html"><span lang="EN-US">STANISLAV MARKELOV - Patriotism as a
diagnosis</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/julien-benda-our-age-is-age-of.html">Julien
Benda: Our age is the age of the intellectual organization of political hatreds</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/08/beginnings-and-endings.html"><span lang="EN-US">Beginnings and Endings</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/friedrich-nietzsche-on-german-hostility.html">Friedrich
Nietzsche on German hostility to the Enlightenment (1881) / Zeev Sternhell on
the price to be paid for cultural differentialism</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/margaret-mead-on-definition-of.html">Margaret
Mead on the definition of civilisation</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/09/timothy-stanley-alexander-lee-its-still.html">Timothy
Stanley & Alexander Lee - It's Still Not the End of History</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/12/francis-fukuyama-on-end-of-history.html">Francis
Fukuyama on ‘The End of History’, the crimes of the neocons and having the ear
of the Chinese leadership</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-50714710164308056572022-07-31T02:28:00.014-07:002022-07-31T02:40:45.404-07:00Akhtar Balouch: Why did Qurratulain Hyder leave Pakistan for India?<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB:</b> Today we learn the sad news of Janab <a href="https://www.24newshd.tv/31-Jul-2022/veteran-journalist-historian-akhtar-baloch-passes-away-in-karachi">Akhtar Balouch's passing</a>. I have not been able to find an obituary and am posting some of his writings as a tribute. This is the first article of his that I posted: </span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/05/akhtar-balouch-on-daya-ram-gidumal-of.html" style="font-family: verdana;">Daya Ram Gidumal of Sindh</a>.<span style="font-family: verdana;"> Here are </span><a href="https://www.dawn.com/authors/1869/akhtar-balouch" style="font-family: verdana;">some more</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, including a fascinating account of Prime Minister </span><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1213461/the-mystery-that-shrouds-liaquat-ali-khans-murder" style="font-family: verdana;">Liaqat Ali Khan's assassination</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> in October 1951. The piece below is of especial interest, given that we are now witness to </span><a href="https://thewire.in/rights/agra-event-geetanjali-shree-cancelled-complaint" style="font-family: verdana;">literary censorship</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> that India has never seen before.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtZHGJrHPzHgeIIvvqoXxmpdtzkfVfp_9p6Av1sgl0qCQ-q_AsaNH1uc8yzWyYKMhS0ApPqK-6-WBskMstaUPm7z5YPDEc3Kp6zcPf5UK7rdTmUARIJZzazlZo1mkeIN_h7nM7qy-ldUNM22Wmsdaki0cMp0CAojP4UtEJzY8pqWwKLHJz6-8vC4Os9Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="800" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtZHGJrHPzHgeIIvvqoXxmpdtzkfVfp_9p6Av1sgl0qCQ-q_AsaNH1uc8yzWyYKMhS0ApPqK-6-WBskMstaUPm7z5YPDEc3Kp6zcPf5UK7rdTmUARIJZzazlZo1mkeIN_h7nM7qy-ldUNM22Wmsdaki0cMp0CAojP4UtEJzY8pqWwKLHJz6-8vC4Os9Q=w400-h214" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rest in Peace Akhtar sb. You loved humanity irrespective of religion and nationality; yours was a heart of gold. </span><b>DS</b></span></div><div><div><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1210454/why-did-qurratulain-hyder-leave-pakistan-for-india"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1210454/why-did-qurratulain-hyder-leave-pakistan-for-india">Why did Qurratulain Hyder leave Pakistan for India?</a><br />She departed this world in August 2007, but continues to live on in her fluid writings since then. After Partition, Qurratulain had migrated to Pakistan and lived here for a few years before deciding to return to India; eventually, she took up Indian citizenship. It was during her stay in Pakistan that she penned her masterpiece novel Aag ka Darya (River of Fire). With the critics, it is a long-running debate on whether it is a novel or a book documenting the history of pre-partitioned India.<br /><br />The story spans over centuries, and the protagonist Gautam Nilambar apparently personifies the cultural and social changes taking place in the subcontinent. Those who have read the novel would vouchsafe that Qurratulain Hyder writes more like a historian than a novelist when she unearths the history of several centuries. She treats the ending of the novel with unparalleled dexterity. This is how she describes Gautam Nilambar as he passes by a 'shamshan ghaat' (open air crematorium):<br /><br /><i>“He climbed up the high peak of Gaurishankar, wrapping himself in clouds. On the top, he sat down, bending his knees. He looked around to find vacuity everywhere, and he realised that he was alone as usual, the eternal and everlasting human of the earth, tired and vanquished, rejuvenated and hopeful; the human who found himself in god and who was himself a god.<br /><br />“Smilingly, he descended and opened his eyes.<br /><br />“Hail the awakening of those awoke; hail the rule of law; hail the asceticism of those who have found peace, Shankia Mani said.<br /><br />“He climbed down from the brink, took a deep breath, and slowly walked towards the village.”</i><br /><br /><b>Critics on Aag ka Darya</b><br />Muzaffar Hanfi, in one of his essays, both censures and praises Aag ka Darya, saying that notwithstanding some minor flaws, the work is an important milestone in the history of Urdu novels.<br /><br />He says that it is a patent fact that in response to Aag ka Darya, a number of great novels in Urdu have been written, including Udas Naslein (translated into English by its author as The Weary Generations), Sangham, Ali Pur Ka Aili, Khuda ki Basti (translated into English as God’s Land), and Lahu Ke Phool, as if Hyder, by writing Aag ka Darya, had opened a door to the fourth dimension for other novelists.<br /><br />Aag ka Darya, he says, is charged by explosives that would go off when touched and lead to several blasts, killing everyone devoid of sagacity and prudence, and leaving the survivors mourning for the rest of their lives....</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><a href="#">https://www.dawn.com/news/1210454/why-did-qurratulain-hyder-leave-pakistan-for-india</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20K%20Ramanujan%27s%20Three%20Hundred%20Ramayanas">A K Ramanujan's Three Hundred Ramayanas</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://thewire.in/rights/agra-event-geetanjali-shree-cancelled-complaint"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Event Honouring Geetanjali Shree Cancelled After ‘Offensive Content’ Complaint</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u><span style="color: blue; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/07/legendary-pakistani-social-worker-abdul.html">Legendary
Pakistani Social Worker Abdul Sattar Edhi Dies In Karachi</a></span></u></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/nobel-laureate-orhan-pamuk-charged.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk charged
again with ‘insulting Turkishness’ / Complaint filed against Indian comedian
Vir Das for his allegedly anti-India show</span></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/gauri-lankesh-abnormality-is-becoming.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gauri Lankesh: ‘Abnormality is
becoming the new normal in Karnataka’ // ‘Murder of democracy, climate of hate,
intolerance complicit’</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-mighty-heart-death-and-life-of-gauri.html"><span lang="EN-US">A mighty heart - The death and life
of Gauri Lankesh // Virago, not martyr</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/over-10000-rally-in-bengaluru-declare-i.html"><span lang="EN-US">Over 10,000 at protest rally in
Bengaluru, declare: I am Gauri // BJP Sends Legal Notice To Ramachandra Guha</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-dare-they-celebrate-this-is-our.html"><span lang="EN-US">“How dare they celebrate, this is
our India, we will not allow this to happen.” People of Bengaluru defend Indian
democracy</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/10/anna-politkovskaya-award-shared-by.html"><span lang="EN-US">Anna Politkovskaya Award shared by
Pakistani Activist and Gauri Lankesh</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/raghu-karnad-indian-liberals-must-die_13.html"><span lang="EN-US">RAGHU KARNAD: Indian Liberals Must
Die. Gauri Lankesh and the vernacular Indian left</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-eloquence-of-silence-choice-is.html"><span lang="EN-US">The eloquence of silence - The
choice is between speaking up and keeping quiet. By Samantak Das</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/journalist-gets-threat-for-criticising.html"><span lang="EN-US">Journalist gets threat for
criticising a Modi Govt scheme. Is reminded of Gauri Lankesh's fate</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/07/gauri-lankeshs-kannada-news-website.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gauri Lankesh’s Kannada news website
banned by Facebook?</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/edward-snowden-everything-going-great.html"><span lang="EN-US">Edward Snowden - Everything Going
Great: Bad Faith, Worse News and Julian Assange</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/03/anushka-baruah-what-ramjas-teaches.html">Anushka
Baruah - What Ramjas teaches // MSU Baroda Cancels Workshop on Caste citing
Ramjas incident: Protest by Indian Cultural Forum Collective</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/essay-by-ak-ramanujan-censored-by-dus.html">The
essay by AK Ramanujan censored by DU's Academic Council</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-k-ramanujan-works-dropped-from-new-du.html">A
K Ramanujan works dropped from new DU syllabus</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-01-06/pune/28323621_1_bori-bhandarkar-oriental-research-institute-islamic-india">Sambhaji
Brigade vandalised the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune in 2004</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/petition-re-suspension-of-academic-in.html"><span lang="EN-US">Suspension of academic in Kerala
because he talked about fascism and Sangh Parivar</span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/02/stephen-alter-right-of-reader.html">Stephen
Alter - The right of the reader</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://infochangeindia.org/agenda/freedom-of-expression/speaking-freely.html">Speaking
freely - essays on speech & censorship</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/09/infochange-agenda-on-censorship-limits.html">Infochange
Agenda # on censorship: The Limits of Freedom</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk102725221"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/07/everything-and-nothing-by-jorge-luis.html"><span lang="EN-US">Everything and Nothing by Jorge Luis Borges // "Borges and I"</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/this-years-oscars-could-have-been.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This
year's Oscars could have been a moment of pride for China. Then politics got in
the way</span></span></a><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-10276975239261313182022-07-30T21:44:00.003-07:002022-07-30T21:44:19.785-07:00Mark Zuckerberg is having a ‘Pearl Harbour’ moment. By John Naughton<span style="font-family: verdana;">The great thing about history is that it often repeats itself – though not necessarily as Marx envisaged it. Here’s a story about the tech industry that illustrates the point. Act one begins in the spring of 1993, when Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina released the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_(web_browser)">graphical browser</a> for the emerging world wide web. They called it Mosaic and it was a runaway success because it was the thing that enabled ordinary people to understand what this internet thingy was for. In 1994, </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Andreessen and Jim Clark set up a company that eventually became <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape">Netscape</a> and in October that year released a new, improved browser called Netscape Navigator, which in three months had 75% of the nascent browser market. In August 1995, Netscape went public in a frenzied IPO that triggered the first internet boom. As their company thrived, Andreessen and co started to muse about an even brighter prospect. If web browsers really were the future, they reasoned, and since the operating system (OS) of a PC was effectively just a life-support system for a browser, who needed a complex and expensive OS such as Microsoft’s MS-DOS?<br /><br />At this point, Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder and CEO, woke up. ..<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/30/like-bill-gates-before-him-mark-zuckerberg-is-having-a-pearl-harbour-moment</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/marina-hyde-question-every-politician.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Marina Hyde: The question every
politician should be asking is, what does Mark Zuckerberg want with us?</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/siva-vaidhyanathan-facebook-has-just.html">Siva
Vaidhyanathan: Facebook has just suffered its most devastating PR catastrophe
yet / Jonathan Freedland: Is Facebook the tobacco industry of the 21st century?</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-19752183547450383372022-07-29T21:18:00.114-07:002022-08-03T03:06:25.412-07:00Gautam Bhatia - The Executive(’s) Court: Notes on the Legacy of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB:</b> To this excellent commentary on justice I will add a few lines from J.P. Stern's book, <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Hitler.html?id=iZ1HhXz63aEC&redir_esc=y"><i>Hitler: The Fuhrer and the People</i></a> (1992). They are taken from pages 113-114; a chapter called The Spirit of National Socialist Law:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: verdana;">"National Socialist law is not, as in Dickens, 'an ass': that is, extravagant, purblind, and pompously remote from the true interests of the litigants and the community at large. It is the exercise of objective-seeming power in support of purely arbitrary and subjective decisions, its true character on no way hidden but emphasized by the mock-formality of its wordings. It is the law as it informs Franz Kafka's unfinished novel, <i>The Trial</i> (1914-15). 'Someone must have falsely denounced Josef K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one morning', runs its famous first sentence; and from this opening to Josef K.'s execution at the end, neither he nor anyone else in the novel ever asks the obvious question as to what this very ordinary bachelor of thirty is supposed to be guilty of... 'But I am innocent, it is a mistake..' The only answer he receives is .. 'that's the way the guilty are wont to talk'.. The implication is that Josef K. is guilty because of what he is rather than because of anything he has done...there is neither a stable code of law nor acquittal. To be involved in this trial is the same as losing it... The reversal of the ordinary functions of judiciary and police characteristic of every totalitarian regime is reflected in the view put to Josef K., that 'the verdict doesn't come all at once, the proceedings gradually merge into the verdict'..." - <b>DS</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href=" https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/the-executives-court-notes-on-the-legacy-of-justice-a-m-khanwilkar/" style="font-family: verdana;">Gautam Bhatia - The Executive(’s) Court</a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div>This blog has a long-standing tradition of assessing the judicial legacies of Chief Justices of India, upon their retirement (see <a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/ends-without-means-outcomes-without-reasons-a-look-back-at-dipak-misra-and-the-constitution/">here</a>, <a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/a-little-brief-authority-chief-justice-ranjan-gogoi-and-the-rise-of-the-executive-court/">here</a>, and <a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2021/04/23/evasion-hypocrisy-and-duplicity-the-legacy-of-chief-justice-bobde/">here</a>). This tradition has hitherto been limited to Chief Justices, because of the sway that they exercise upon the Supreme Court as “master(s) of the roster”, and because during their tenures, they tend to hear significant constitutional cases themselves.</div><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last year, an exception was made upon the retirement of Justice R.F. Nariman, <a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2021/08/13/a-memory-for-forgetfulness-some-thoughts-on-a-judicial-retirement/">for reasons explained in this blog post</a>. Today, the retirement of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar requires, I believe, a second exception. One reason for this is that during the course of his career (as we shall see in this post), Justice Khanwilkar has written some of the most consequential judgments concerning State power and the rights of the individual. But secondly – and more importantly – when you study these judgments together, you glimpse a certain judicial philosophy – such as it is – at work. This judicial philosophy – subject to a few important exceptions – is, I believe, largely representative of the Supreme Court today (which also perhaps explains why, across Chief Justices, these kinds of cases have been regularly assigned to Justice Khanwilkar, one of its most forceful proponents).<br /><br />What is this philosophy? In my earlier analysis of Justice Khanwilkar’s judgment in the FCRA Case (also discussed below) I had compared it to the Peruvian President Óscar R. Benavides famous line, “for my friends, anything; for my enemies, the law.” In a similar vein, the common thread running through Justice Khanwilkar’s constitutional law judgments is: “for the State, anything; for the individual, the law“: it is the philosophy not just of the <a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/a-little-brief-authority-chief-justice-ranjan-gogoi-and-the-rise-of-the-executive-court/">executive court</a>, but of the executive(‘s) court.<br /><br />Before we begin, a final point, by way of caveat: it is almost trite to say that I do not agree with the outcomes of the cases that I discuss below. I have criticised some of these judgments when they were delivered, and in the Central Vista Case (that I flag, but do not discuss), I was one of (many) arguing counsel on the losing side. My analysis below, however, is not founded simply upon the fact of disagreement with the outcome, or of dislike of these judgments. Regardless of my predilections, I believe that these judgments reveal something important, both about Justice Khanwilkar’s judicial career, and about the contemporary Supreme Court, which is important to articulate and to discuss. This post should be read in that spirit....<br /><a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/the-executives-court-notes-on-the-legacy-of-justice-a-m-khanwilkar/"><br />https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/the-executives-court-notes-on-the-legacy-of-justice-a-m-khanwilkar/</a></span><div><a href="https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/the-executives-court-notes-on-the-legacy-of-justice-a-m-khanwilkar/"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br /></span></a><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/avay-shukla-its-time-to-be-outraged-my.html"><span lang="EN-US">Avay
Shukla: IT'S TIME TO BE OUTRAGED , MY LORDS.</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-judiciary-is-defence-of-innocent-or.html"><span lang="EN-IN">The Judiciary is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought...</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/prem-shankar-jha-shadow-of-haren.html">Prem Shankar Jha: The Shadow of Haren Pandya’s Case Lies Long Over Justice Arun Mishra</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/03/nikhila-henry-ex-cji-gogois-rs.html"><span lang="EN-US">Nikhila Henry - Ex CJI Gogoi's RS Nomination Calls All His Judgments Into Question, Says Legal Expert</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/ramachandra-guha-supreme-court-must.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ramachandra Guha: Supreme Court must reflect on its calling as defined by the Constitution - and the direction it is taking</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/i-will-probably-die-express-editorial.html">"I will probably die" - Express
Editorial on Stan Swamy // A Requiem for Father Stan Swamy: Justice of the
Supreme Court (Retd) Madan Lokur</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/stan-swamy-dead-elgar-parishad-case-7389891/">Waiting for medical bail, ailing
84-year-old passes away</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/father-stan-swamy-id-rather-suffer.html">Father Stan Swamy: I’d rather suffer,
possibly die if things go on as it is</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/wanted-immediate-justice-in-bhima.html">WANTED: Immediate Justice in the
Bhima-Koregaon Conspiracy. By Cedric Prakash</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/samar-halarnkar-how-indias-justice.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Samar Halarnkar - How India's justice
system is giving in to the mob</span></a></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/govt-wants-to-cage-women-who-speak.html"><span lang="EN-US">Govt
wants to cage women who speak against it, say Narwal & Kalita as they and
Asif Tanha walk free / Delhi HC criticises 'wanton, frivolous use of UAPA by
the State' / P.B. Mehta: Has the blackbox of UAPA finally been opened?</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/07/colin-gonsalves-refusal-of-bail-to.html"><span lang="EN-US">Colin Gonsalves: Refusal of bail to Sudha Bharadwaj
is based on inadmissible evidence</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/07/pratap-bhanu-mehta-loneliness-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The loneliness of Varavara Rao,
Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj tells a disquieting tale</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/01/pratap-bhanu-mehta-biggest-casualty-in.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Pratap Bhanu Mehta - The biggest casualty in the Alok Verma affair has
been the SC’s authority</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"> <o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/re-investigate-judge-loyas-death-sharad.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Re-investigate Judge Loya’s death: Sharad
Pawar // <span lang="HI">सीबीआई</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">जज</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">की</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">मौत</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">को</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">लेकर</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">उठे</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">सवाल</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/04/blog-post.html"><span lang="HI">अपूर्वानंद</span> - <span lang="HI">भागवत</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">और</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">वंजारा</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">साथ</span>-<span lang="HI">साथ</span>: <span lang="HI">हम</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">कौन</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">थे</span>, <span lang="HI">क्या</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">हो</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">गए</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">हैं</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">और</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">क्या</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">होंगे</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">अभी</span>?</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVj-BZ6q27c&feature=youtu.be"><span lang="HI">बॉम्बे</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">हाईकोर्ट</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">पूर्व</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">जज</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">ने</span><span lang="EN-US"> Amit
Shah </span><span lang="HI">की</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">पूरी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">कुंडली</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">खोल</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">कर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">रख</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="HI">दी</span><span lang="EN-US">
Former Judge Exposes Shah</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-universal-declaration-of-human.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/samjhauta-express-blast-case-verdict.html"><span lang="EN-US">Samjhauta Express blast case verdict: ‘Who will
answer for death of my five children?’</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-58983263400903536222022-07-26T23:26:00.003-07:002022-07-26T23:26:47.955-07:00Chris Hedges: The Dawn of the Apocalypse<span style="font-family: verdana;">The past week has seen record-breaking<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/europe/europe-heat-wave-wednesday-wildfires-intl/index.html"> heat waves</a> across Europe. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62210116">Wildfires</a> have ripped through Spain, Portugal and France. London’s fire brigade experienced its<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62232654"> busiest day</a> since World War II. The U.K. saw its <a href="https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/brutal-40c-day-leaves-uk-031600307.html">hottest day</a> on record of 104.54 Fahrenheit. In China, more than a dozen cities<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/asia/china-heatwave-red-alerts-intl-hnk/index.html"> issued</a> the “highest possible heat warning” this weekend with over 900 million people in China <a href="https://climate-concern.com/chinas-summer-of-extreme-heat-and-rainfall-highlights-climate-change-threats/">enduring </a>a scorching heat wave along with severe flooding and landslides across large swathes of southern China. Dozens of people have died. Millions of Chinese have been displaced.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Economic losses run into the billions of yuan. Droughts, which have destroyed crops, killed livestock and forced many to flee their homes, are creating <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220715163854/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/12/hunger-crisis-drought-grips-horn-of-africa-but-80-of-britons-unaware-poll-shows">a potential famine </a>in the Horn of Africa. More than 100 million people in the United States <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/weather/us-extreme-heat-thursday/index.html">are under heat alerts</a> in more than two dozen states from temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s and low 100s. Wildfires have destroyed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/23/heat-wave-northeast-extreme-temperatures-summer/">thousands of acres in California</a>. More than 73 percent of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/22/rio-grande-drought/">New Mexico</a> is suffering from an “extreme” or “severe” drought. Thousands of people had to flee from a fast-moving brush fire near <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fires-california-evacuations-department-of-forestry-and-fire-protection-3b924a9d041b37acdc57e4b4eb8a64fe">Yosemite National Park </a>on Saturday and 2,000 homes and businesses lost power. <br /><br />It is not as if we were not warned. It is not as if we lacked scientific evidence. It is not as if we could not see the steady ecological degeneration and species extinction. And yet, we did not act. The result will be mass death with victims dwarfing the murderous rampages of fascism, Stalinism and Mao Zedong’s China combined. The desperate response is to burn more coal, especially with the soaring cost of natural gas and oil, and extend the life of nuclear power plants to sustain the economy and produce cool air. It is a self-defeating response. Joe Biden has <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/new-data-biden-slays-trumps-first-year-drilling-permitting-by-34-2022-01-21/">approved more</a> new oil drilling permits than Donald Trump. Once the power outages begin, as in India, the heat waves will exact a grim toll. <br /><br />“Half of humanity is in the danger zone, from floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/humanity-faces-collective-suicide-over-climate-crisis-warns-un-chief?CMP=share_btn_tw&fbclid=IwAR2WNHTh_aZZ9H0mlabJd_sXwya4MrBM38_NtNB84pkj76YE5w8AWY4E">U.N Secretary General António Guterres </a>told ministers from 40 countries meeting to discuss the climate crisis on July 18. “No nation is immune. Yet we continue to feed our fossil fuel addiction.”<br /><br />“We have a choice,” he added. “Collective action or collective suicide.”.....<br /></span><p><a href="https://scheerpost.com/2022/07/26/chris-hedges-the-dawn-of-the-apocalypse/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://scheerpost.com/2022/07/26/chris-hedges-the-dawn-of-the-apocalypse/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/our-leaders-look-climate-change-in-eyes.html">Our leaders look climate change in the
eyes, and shrug / Siberian heatwave led to new methane emissions / Terrifying
documentary on US wildfires</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/aseem-shrivastava-age-gone-blind.html"><span lang="EN-US">Aseem
Shrivastava: An Age gone blind // Mallika Bhanot - Char Dham Pariyojana: A High
Risk Engineering Exercise</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/this-obscure-energy-treaty-is-greatest.html"><span lang="EN-US">This
obscure energy treaty is the greatest threat to the planet you’ve never heard
of</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/07/rebecca-smithers-we-are-flushing-away.html">REBECCA SMITHERS
- We Are Flushing Away Our Forests: Researchers warn that toilet paper is
becoming unsustainable</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/david-cox-planets-prodigious-poo-problem.html">David Cox - The
planet's prodigious poo problem</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/03/owen-jones-why-dont-we-treat-climate.html"><span lang="EN-US">Owen Jones: Why don’t we treat the climate crisis with
the same urgency as coronavirus?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/26/dod-126-bases-report-water-contaminants-harmful-to-infant-development-tied-to-cancers/">"DoD: At Least 126 Bases Report Water
Contaminants Linked to Cancer, Birth Defects"</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/john-sentamu-its-time-to-act-against.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">John Sentamu -
It’s time to act against the oil companies causing death and destruction</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/hedges-age-of-self-delusion.html">Hedges: The Age of Self-Delusion</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/how-with-this-rage-by-chris-hedges-2005.html">How With This Rage. BY CHRIS HEDGES (2005)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/chris-hedges-execution-of-julian.html">CHRIS HEDGES - The execution of Julian Assange: He exposed the crimes of
empire; and that can't be tolerated</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/01/william-astore-us-militarys-lost-wars.html">William Astore: The U.S. Military’s Lost Wars // Chris Hedges: The
American Empire Will Collapse Within a Decade, Two at Most</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/chris-hedges-collective-suicide-machine.html">Chris Hedges: The Collective Suicide Machine</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-sermon-from-rev-chris-hedges.html">Jesus sermon from the Rev. Chris Hedges</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-5997235040865056892022-07-26T21:30:00.000-07:002022-07-26T21:30:02.999-07:00"Criminal Justice Machinery Relentlessly Employed Against M Zubair": Supreme Court<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB:</b> These remarks in the SC order are gratifying, and show that some of our judges are diligent in their duties as defenders of citizen's freedoms against the misuse of state power. I hope judges and magistrates in lesser courts take a lesson from this judgement and refrain from succumbing to the <a href="https://thewire.in/books/book-extract-rss-working-hard-to-wipe-out-true-religions-of-india">authoritarian impulses</a> of the regime now in power. <b>DS</b></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">New Delhi: Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who got bail last week, was "trapped in a vicious cycle of criminal process where the process itself has become the punishment," the Supreme Court has said, warning that arrest "cannot be used as a punitive tool". The detailed judgment in the case that was released today contained a series of extremely strong remarks. Muhammed Zubair had walked free last week, after more than a month in jail, days after Chief Justice NV Ramana flagged the matter of "hasty and indiscriminate arrests, difficulty in obtaining bail, and prolonged incarceration of undertrials".<br /><br />"Arrest is not meant to be and must not be used as a punitive tool because it results in one of the gravest possible consequences emanating from criminal law: the loss of personal liberty," read the judgment from the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna today.<br /><br />"Individuals must not be punished solely on the basis of allegations, and without a fair trial... When the power to arrest is exercised without application of mind and without due regard to the law, it amounts to an abuse of power," it added.<br /><br />The court said the Section 41 of the CrPC and safeguards in criminal law exist in recognition of the reality that any criminal proceeding "almost inevitably involves the might of the state, with unlimited resources at its disposal, against a lone individual"....</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/arrest-not-punitive-tool-supreme-court-on-fact-checker-m-zubairs-case-3192971">https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/arrest-not-punitive-tool-supreme-court-on-fact-checker-m-zubairs-case-3192971</a><br /></span><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2e2e2e; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/citizens-armed-forces-veterans-write-to.html"><span lang="EN-US">Citizens,
armed forces veterans write to President, PM Modi on hate speech / Aditi
Mittal: Deafening silence in a year of hate speech</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/i-will-probably-die-express-editorial.html">"I will probably die" - Express
Editorial on Stan Swamy // A Requiem for Father Stan Swamy: Justice of the
Supreme Court (Retd) Madan Lokur</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/stan-swamy-dead-elgar-parishad-case-7389891/">Waiting for medical bail, ailing
84-year-old passes away</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/father-stan-swamy-id-rather-suffer.html">Father Stan Swamy: I’d rather suffer,
possibly die if things go on as it is</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/wanted-immediate-justice-in-bhima.html">WANTED: Immediate Justice in the
Bhima-Koregaon Conspiracy. By Cedric Prakash</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-judiciary-is-defence-of-innocent-or.html"><span lang="EN-IN">The Judiciary
is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought...</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/kunal-kamra-and-elasticity-of-justice.html">Kunal Kamra and the Elasticity of Justice.
By Avay Shukla</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/justice-not-about-money-punish-officers.html"><span lang="EN-US">Justice
not about money… punish officers responsible: father of killed Naga miner /
Meghalaya to urge Centre to repeal AFSPA / Nagaland killings: Direct marise…they
shot right at us, no signal to stop, we did not flee, says ambush survivor</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/04/blog-post.html"><span lang="HI">मुझे</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">पूरी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">उम्मीद</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">है</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">कि</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">आप</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">अपनी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">बारी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">आने</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">से</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">पहले</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">बोलेंगे</span><span lang="EN-US">- </span><span lang="HI">डॉ</span><span lang="EN-US">.</span><span lang="HI">आनंद</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">तेलतुंबड़े</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/avay-shukla-its-time-to-be-outraged-my.html"><span lang="EN-US">Avay
Shukla: IT'S TIME TO BE OUTRAGED , MY LORDS.</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/samar-halarnkar-how-indias-justice.html">Samar Halarnkar - How India's justice
system is giving in to the mob</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2e2e2e; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/govt-wants-to-cage-women-who-speak.html"><span lang="EN-US">Govt
wants to cage women who speak against it, say Narwal & Kalita as they and
Asif Tanha walk free / Delhi HC criticises 'wanton, frivolous use of UAPA by
the State' / P.B. Mehta: Has the blackbox of UAPA finally been opened?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2e2e2e; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></p></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-6902078666257671742022-07-25T03:35:00.003-07:002022-07-25T03:35:30.028-07:00Igor Torbakov: No empire without end <span style="font-family: verdana;">Over the last 30 years, Russia’s principal strategic goal had been to maintain its quasi-imperial dominance in the post-Soviet space. Not any more. Moscow’s inability to quickly achieve regime change in Kyiv has transformed both the Kremlin’s war aims in Ukraine and the very nature of the Russian state. When Vladimir Putin sent Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine in late February, he still presided over an imperial-like polity largely privileging the methods of indirect rule.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Four months later, Russia looks more like an aggrieved and aggressive nationalizing state focused on the ‘gathering of lands’ than a benign, regional hegemon. This dramatic shift will have profound consequences for Russia’s immediate ex-Soviet neighbours, the European Union and the world at large....<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.eurozine.com/no-empire-without-end/</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/sergei-loznitsa-ukrainian-film-maker.html"><span lang="EN-US">Sergei
Loznitsa, the Ukrainian film-maker who refuses to be cancelled</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/dont-cry-for-me-dostoevsky.html">Don’t cry for me, Dostoevsky</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/book-review-day-of-oprichnik-16-years.html"><span lang="EN-US">Book
review: Day of the Oprichnik, 16 Years Later</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-cancellation-of-russian-culture-by.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE CANCELLATION OF RUSSIAN CULTURE.
By Gary Saul Morson</span></a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/pb-mehta-ukraine-invasion-has-revealed.html"><span lang="EN-US">P.B.
Mehta: Ukraine invasion has revealed a new world disorder</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/juan-cole-us-would-be-on-firmer-ground.html">JUAN COLE: The US would be on firmer ground
declaring Putin a War Criminal if George W. Bush had been Tried / Aditya
Chakrabortty: Western values? They enthroned the monster who is shelling
Ukrainians today</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/rohini-hensman-historical-background-to.html">Rohini Hensman: The Historical Background
to Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine / Chris Hedges: The Greatest Evil Is War</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/04/fredy-perlman-ten-theses-on.html">10 Theses on the Proliferation of Egocrats
(1977)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/ukraine-india-refuses-to-take-clear.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ukraine:
India refuses to take a clear position on the Russian invasion</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-50050659580013946802022-07-25T03:32:00.004-07:002022-07-25T03:32:47.877-07:00Migrant women staying behind<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #040404; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Millions of internal migrants were sent back to their homes across India since the first coronavirus lockdowns. By the time restrictions lifted, many women had already lost work, and faced compounding layers of inequality. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--black-80); font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Sunita Devi’s life is a study in contrasts. On a cold February morning, the 35-year-old daily wage worker turned the wheels of a chaff cutter in her village in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. If ‘things had not changed’, Devi would have been 400 kilometers away quarrying stones instead in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--black-80); font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">For more than 15 years now, Devi and her family have been inter-stiate migrants who travel to more than half a dozen cities from Mandi Mirza Khan village in search of work. Her migration, like most of India’s informal workforce, is seasonal and often</span><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--black-80); font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00915-6" style="border: 0px; box-shadow: rgb(173, 205, 202) 0px 2px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">circular</a><span style="background-color: white; color: var(--black-80); font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> (to earn and remit money back), lasting anywhere between six to ten months in a year. She has led a hardscrabble life of manual labour to earn just 9,000 rupees or INR (roughly 110€) a month....</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.eurozine.com/migrant-women-staying-behind/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.eurozine.com/migrant-women-staying-behind/</span></a></span></p><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: verdana;"><i>Written by Anuja and edited by Tina Lee, this article was contributed to Eurozine by <a href="https://unbiasthenews.org/india-women-migrant-workers-struggle-to-rebuild-their-lives/">Unbias the News</a> – they published it originally on 10 March 2022. This report was produced as part of DW Akademie’s Media Fellowship on Displacement and Migration.</i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/06/alessandra-mezzadri-informal-labour.html"><span lang="EN-US">Alessandra Mezzadri: Informal labour, the majority
world and the need for inclusive theories and politics</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/05/bharat-bhushan-targeting-labour-laws-on.html">Bharat Bhushan -
Targeting labour laws: On whose behalf do states operate?</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/04/pratap-bhanu-mehta-migrant-labour-and.html">Pratap Bhanu
Mehta: Migrant labour and the unemployed will be demanding their rights, not
our mercy</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/subir-sinha-covid-has-blurred-lines.html">Subir Sinha: COVID has blurred the lines
between waged, coerced and trafficked labour in India</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.clb.org.hk/en/">China Labour Bulletin</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/walter-benjamin-capitalism-as-religion.html"><span lang="EN-US">Walter Benjamin: Capitalism as Religion (1921)</span></a></span><u><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/02/noam-chomsky-internationalism-or.html"><span lang="EN-US">Noam Chomsky: Internationalism or Extinction
(Universalizing Resistance)</span></a></span><u><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/08/can-capitalism-and-democracy-coexist.html"><span lang="EN-US">Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist?</span></a></span><u><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/11/lynn-parramore-perverted-dreams-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Lynn Parramore: The perverted dreams of western
modernity and capitalism may be exhausting themselves</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-15431444727650498672022-07-25T03:27:00.005-07:002022-07-25T03:27:33.446-07:00William deBuys: Welcome to the Pyrocene<span style="font-family: verdana;">In case you hadn’t been paying attention, it’s hot on this planet. I mean, really hot. And I’m not just thinking about Europe’s worst heat wave in <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-forecasts/europe-heat-wave-could-be-worst-in-over-200-years/1216701">at least 200 years</a>. There, fires in Spain, Portugal, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/18/heat-apocalypse-warning-western-france-thousands-flee-wildfire">France</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fires-spain-portugal-italy-europe-heatwave-europe-rcna38163?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR364A62HsfK5jEp6by6BcQTqiaXR0bhKy3njDf9PZH2OHrzg64pofMBgsc">rage</a>, barely checked. Nor do I have in mind the devastating repeated <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/opinion/environment/heat-waves-india-pakistan-climate-change.html">spring heat waves</a> in South Asia or the disastrous drought in the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/19/1106125407/countries-in-the-horn-of-africa-are-experiencing-the-worst-drought-in-40-years">Horn of Africa</a>. It’s burning right here! Scarcely noticed in the rest of the country (or in national news coverage), the American Southwest and parts of the West are in a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/western-megadrought-is-the-worst-in-1-200-years/">megadrought</a> of historic proportions.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">And parts of New Mexico, as naturalist and <a href="https://tomdispatch.com/climate-change-viewed-from-the-attic-of-the-world/">TomDispatch regular</a> William deBuys describes so vividly today, have been burning in jaw-dropping fashion. (As a poor state, its fires don’t get the attention that those in wealthier <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-20/brush-fire-burns-in-hollywood-hills-near-universal-studios">southern California</a> might.) And yet, right now in what Noam Chomsky recently <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/noam-chomsky-humanity-faces-two-existential-threats-one-is-nearly-ignored/">suggested</a> could be “the last stage in human history,” the question is: When it comes to climate change, who’s really paying attention?....</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><a href="https://tomdispatch.com/new-mexicos-megafires-mark-a-turning-point/">https://tomdispatch.com/new-mexicos-megafires-mark-a-turning-point/</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><article class="post-19179 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-tomgram guest_author-williamdebuys grow-content-body has-blocks" id="post-19179" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 762px;"><div class="wp-block-tom-dispatch-intro" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/our-leaders-look-climate-change-in-eyes.html">Our leaders look climate change in the
eyes, and shrug / Siberian heatwave led to new methane emissions / Terrifying
documentary on US wildfires</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/aseem-shrivastava-age-gone-blind.html"><span lang="EN-US">Aseem
Shrivastava: An Age gone blind // Mallika Bhanot - Char Dham Pariyojana: A High
Risk Engineering Exercise</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/this-obscure-energy-treaty-is-greatest.html"><span lang="EN-US">This
obscure energy treaty is the greatest threat to the planet you’ve never heard
of</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/07/rebecca-smithers-we-are-flushing-away.html">REBECCA SMITHERS
- We Are Flushing Away Our Forests: Researchers warn that toilet paper is
becoming unsustainable</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/david-cox-planets-prodigious-poo-problem.html">David Cox - The
planet's prodigious poo problem</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/03/owen-jones-why-dont-we-treat-climate.html"><span lang="EN-US">Owen Jones: Why don’t we treat the climate crisis with
the same urgency as coronavirus?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/26/dod-126-bases-report-water-contaminants-harmful-to-infant-development-tied-to-cancers/">"DoD: At Least 126 Bases Report Water
Contaminants Linked to Cancer, Birth Defects"</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/john-sentamu-its-time-to-act-against.html"><span lang="EN-US">John Sentamu - It’s time to act against the oil
companies causing death and destruction</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/mau-piailug-pius-mau-piailug-master.html">Pius Mau Piailug, master navigator</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/australia-has-new-left-leaning.html"><span lang="EN-US">Australia
has a new left-leaning government</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/11/from-siberia-to-australia-age-of-fire.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From Siberia to Australia: the age of fire is the
bleakest warning yet</span></span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p></div></article></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-22115055199718516182022-07-22T21:49:00.011-07:002022-07-22T22:23:47.220-07:00Book review: Wittgenstein at war<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p style="background-color: #fff2cc; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252524; line-height: var(--body-lh); margin-bottom: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“</em>If to will good or evil has an effect on the world, it can only have one on the boundaries of the world, not on the facts, on what cannot be portrayed by language but can only be shown in language</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">... </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">There are two godheads: the world and my independent I. I am either happy or unhappy, that’s all. One can say: good or evil do not exist. Death is not an event in life. We do not live through it in the world. If eternity is understood not as infinite temporal duration, but as non-temporality, then one can say that he lives eternally who lives in the present.”</em></p></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div>Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) appears to be the only major work of philosophy to have been composed while the author was an active military combatant. René Descartes was serving in the Thirty Years War as a volunteer with the Dutch and then Bavarian armies when he first developed his philosophical ideas, but we don’t know whether he saw combat. Wittgenstein enlisted as an infantryman in the Austro-Hungarian army on 7 August 1914, about a week after the outbreak of the First World War. He was 25.</div><br />From the start of the conflict he was intent on continuing the work on logic and philosophy that had occupied him for the past few years, growing out of his collaboration with Bertrand Russell at Cambridge. It held him together under outward circumstances that he found hard to bear.
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Private<i> </i>Notebooks,
1914-1916</b><br />
Ludwig Wittgenstein, edited and translated by Marjorie Perloff<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reviewed by Thomas Nagel</span></p>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">People are fascinated by
the hidden lives of creative geniuses, the more sordid the better.
Wittgenstein’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Private-Notebooks-1914-1916-Ludwig-Wittgenstein/dp/1324090804" target="_blank">Private Notebooks, 1914-1916</a></i> appeals to that
interest by allowing the reader to eavesdrop on his agonised emotional life in
two of those years of military service, during which he produced one of the
most influential philosophical works of the 20th century. The <i>Tractatus</i> is
a founding document of the analytic tradition in philosophy. ...</span></span><div><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2022/07/wittgenstein-at-war"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2022/07/wittgenstein-at-war</span></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/stanislav-markelov-patriotism-as.html"><span lang="EN-US">STANISLAV
MARKELOV - Patriotism as a diagnosis</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/julien-benda-our-age-is-age-of.html">Julien Benda: Our age is the age of the
intellectual organization of political hatreds</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/08/beginnings-and-endings.html"><span lang="EN-US">Beginnings
and Endings</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/friedrich-nietzsche-on-german-hostility.html">Friedrich Nietzsche on German hostility to
the Enlightenment (1881) / Zeev Sternhell on the price to be paid for cultural
differentialism</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/margaret-mead-on-definition-of.html">Margaret Mead on the definition of
civilisation</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-635402882871132362022-07-22T21:06:00.006-07:002022-07-22T21:06:57.401-07:00Amanda Ripley: I stopped reading the news. Is the problem me or the product?<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I have a secret. I
kept it hidden for longer than I care to admit. It felt unprofessional, vaguely
shameful. It wasn’t who I wanted to be. But here it is: I’ve been actively
avoiding the news for years. It wasn’t always this
way. I’ve been a journalist for two decades, and I used to spend hours
consuming the news and calling it “work.” Every morning, I read The Washington
Post, the New York Times and sometimes the Wall Street Journal. In my office at
Time magazine, I had a TV playing CNN on mute. I listened to NPR in the shower.
On weekends, I devoured the New Yorker. It felt like my duty to be informed, as
a citizen and as a journalist — and also, I kind of loved it! Usually, it made
me feel more curious, not less.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But half a dozen years
ago, something changed. The news started to get under my skin. After my morning
reading, I felt so drained that I couldn’t write — or do anything creative. I’d
listen to “Morning Edition” and feel lethargic, unmotivated, and the day had
barely begun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What was my problem? I
used to cover terrorist attacks, hurricanes, plane crashes, all manner of human
suffering. But now? I was too permeable. It was like I’d developed a gluten
allergy. And here I was — a wheat farmer!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, like a lot of
people, I started to dose the news. I cut out TV news altogether, because
that’s just common sense, and I waited until late afternoon to read other news.
By then, I figured, I could gut it out until dinner (and wine)....<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/08/how-to-fix-news-media/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/08/how-to-fix-news-media/</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/11/pentagon-papers-and-time-when-media-was.html">Pentagon Papers
and time when media was trusted</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2018/01/an-ex-cm-commits-suicide-in-2016.html">An ex-CM commits suicide in 2016, alleging
corruption in the high judiciary - no probe. A judge in a sensitive case dies a
mysterious death. India's pliant media covers it up. What Does the SC Judges’
protest mean for this situation?</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/sunita-viswanath-why-is-indian-media.html"><span lang="EN-US">Sunita
Viswanath: Why is the Indian Media Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the
Republic Day Story?</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/mrinal-pande-land-where-no-one-speaks.html"><span lang="EN-US">Mrinal
Pande: A land where no one speaks truth to power</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/there-should-be-no-clampdown-on.html"><span lang="EN-US">Suhas
Palshikar: A monumental failure of governance // ‘There should be no clampdown
on information, people can voice grievances on social media’: Supreme Court</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/as-dead-pile-up-in-gujarat-states-media.html"><span lang="EN-US">As the
dead pile up in Gujarat, the state’s media is on a warpath with the government
over Covid-19 // Soutik Biswas: How India failed to prevent a deadly second
wave</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/rhea-chakraborty-on-media-trial-after.html">Rhea Chakraborty on 'media trial' after
Bollywood star's death. By Geeta Pandey</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/shalini-langer-give-me-rheas-fortitude.html"><span lang="EN-US">Shalini Langer: Give me Rhea’s fortitude any day //
Tavleen Singh: Rhea and her family have been sacrificed at the altar of lynch
mob journalism</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/hannah-ellis-petersen-actors-death.html"><span lang="EN-US">Hannah Ellis-Petersen: Actor's death fuels media
frenzy in India</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/01/shalini-langer-why-8-year-old-sageer.html"><span lang="EN-US">SHALINI LANGER: Why 8-year-old Sageer Ahmad’s death
should make us rethink our fractured world order</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/vijender-singh-to-return-khel-ratna-if.html"><span lang="EN-US">Vijender
Singh to return Khel Ratna if protesting farmers’ demands not met // Farmers
respond: Farmer Protests Delhi | </span><span lang="HI">किसान</span><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span lang="HI">आंदोलन</span><span lang="EN-US"> & Godi Media</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/p-sainath-farmers-win-on-many-fronts.html"><span lang="EN-US">P.
Sainath: Farmers win on many fronts, media fails on all / </span><span lang="EN-US">रवि</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आजाद</span><span lang="EN-US"> BKU
HARYANA | Kisan Ekta Morcha</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/bharat-bhushan-scania-scandal-need-to.html">Bharat
Bhushan - Scania Scandal: Need to step up to the challenge</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/gautam-bhatia-safoora-zargar-and-disha.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gautam
Bhatia - Safoora Zargar and Disha Ravi: Similar cases, (same judge), vastly
different verdicts</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/citizens-cant-be-jailed-for-disagreeing.html"><span lang="EN-US">‘Citizens
can’t be jailed for disagreeing with state policies’: Top quotes from Disha
Ravi’s bail order / Rajmohan Gandhi: Just Who Is Spoiling India's Image? A View
From The US</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/pack-of-lies-disha-ravi-family-lawyers.html"><span lang="EN-US">“Pack of
lies”: Disha Ravi family lawyers dismiss social media claims about activist’s
religion</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/nivedita-menon-toolkits-of-democracy.html"><span lang="EN-US">Nivedita
Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/03/report-of-fact-finding-team-of-editors.html"><span lang="EN-US">Report
of Fact Finding Team of Editors Guild of India on attacks on media in
Bastar </span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/nobel-laureate-orhan-pamuk-charged.html"><span lang="EN-US">Nobel
laureate Orhan Pamuk charged again with ‘insulting Turkishness’ / Complaint
filed against Indian comedian Vir Das for his allegedly anti-India show</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/gauri-lankesh-abnormality-is-becoming.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gauri
Lankesh: ‘Abnormality is becoming the new normal in Karnataka’ // ‘Murder of
democracy, climate of hate, intolerance complicit’</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-mighty-heart-death-and-life-of-gauri.html"><span lang="EN-US">A mighty
heart - The death and life of Gauri Lankesh // Virago, not martyr</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/over-10000-rally-in-bengaluru-declare-i.html"><span lang="EN-US">Over 10,000
at protest rally in Bengaluru, declare: I am Gauri // BJP Sends Legal Notice To
Ramachandra Guha</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-dare-they-celebrate-this-is-our.html"><span lang="EN-US">“How
dare they celebrate, this is our India, we will not allow this to happen.”
People of Bengaluru defend Indian democracy</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/10/anna-politkovskaya-award-shared-by.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anna Politkovskaya Award shared by
Pakistani Activist and Gauri Lankesh</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/express-editorial-weaponising-advocacy.html"><span lang="EN-US">Express
Editorial: Weaponising an advocacy document to arrest an activist signals
paranoia, not democratic power.</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indian
Muslims for Secular Democracy support free speech; condemn hate speech, death
threats / Media coverage of IMSD Statement</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-46917043743718127852022-07-21T22:16:00.009-07:002022-07-21T22:18:39.690-07:00S Anand: I wondered why we weren’t singing such fabulous poetry from Bhakti movement with our ragas <p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #3e3e3e;">Back in the 14th century, Sant Soyarabai was writing and </span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e3e3e; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/bagga-khan-folk-singer-manganiyar-community-7941238/" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #346f99; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">singing</a></span><span style="color: #3e3e3e;"> abhangs about Vitthal, her god whom she could not visit in a temple because of her Dalit identity. Her abhangs were not just proclamations of her predilections towards god, they were also lessons in understanding caste hierarchy and the pain that was caused by untouchability and Brahminical systems. S Anand, co-founder of Delhi-based publishing house Navayana and author, came across Soyarabai through T<i>he Ant Who Swallowed the Sun</i>, a book by musician Neela Bhagwat and author Jerry Pinto, which translates and explains </span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e3e3e; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/how-i-found-my-tribe-in-mehfils-of-hindustani-poetry-5989765/" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #346f99; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">poetry</a></span><span style="color: #3e3e3e;"> by 10 women saints of Maharashtra from the Bhakti movement. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #3e3e3e;">Kiti kiti bolu deva, kiti Karu aata heva </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #3e3e3e;">(O god how much more do I plead</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #3e3e3e;">The jealousy I must bear till you heed) </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #3e3e3e;">Anand uses Jaijaivanti, a raga from Guru Granth Sahab that’s mostly represented as a combination of joy and sorrow, to convey this abhang, which talks of a god who does not care for her, but does for all the others. Soyarabai says, why should she protest at the doors of his temple to be let in. “People who are kept out of the </span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e3e3e; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/destination-of-the-week/worlds-largest-buddhist-temple-borobudur-get-expensive-details-7956728/" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #346f99; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">temples</a></span><span style="color: #3e3e3e;"> can sing the best songs for the gods that they cannot visit. What can be more nirgun than this,” says Anand, 49, who will perform the abhang at India International Centre in the Capital today...</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #3e3e3e; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/i-wondered-why-we-werent-singing-such-fabulous-poetry-from-bhakti-movement-with-our-ragas-8043599/">https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/i-wondered-why-we-werent-singing-such-fabulous-poetry-from-bhakti-movement-with-our-ragas-8043599/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://scroll.in/magazine/1020101/an-ambedkarite-is-interweaving-buddhas-teachings-with-dhrupad-in-a-leap-of-artistic-faith"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An Ambedkarite is interweaving Buddha’s teachings with dhrupad in a leap of artistic faith</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Siñca bhikkhu imaṁ nāvaṁ sittā te lahum essati/ </i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>chetvā rāgañ ca dosañ ca tato nibbānam ehisi</i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The boat must be lightened, says the boatman<br />It can’t take all of you, it will capsize.<br />The Buddha says shed your passions and can<br />All desire, make yourselves weightless and wise.<br /><br />This delightful and lyrical call to abandon ego on the ride to nibbana, or nirvana, is from Dhammapada, a collection of suttas or Buddha’s teachings in verse form. Suttas are far moved from the poetic universe of the dhrupad, a genre of Hindustani classical music that is set to eulogies to gods and kings. But S Anand has been interweaving the two in a leap of artistic faith. Over the last two years, the Ambedkarite and founder of publishing house Navayana has been exploring the possibility of setting suttas to ragas. A student of dhrupad stalwart Wasifuddin Dagar, he has been writing raga-sonnets, some set to suttas, as a bid to break away from the traditional body of <a href="https://scroll.in/magazine/1007073/why-khayal-with-all-its-majesty-is-content-to-sing-of-saas-bahu-strife">Hindustani bandishes that remain stuck in antiquity</a>...<br /><br /></span><p><span style="color: #3e3e3e; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://scroll.in/magazine/1020101/an-ambedkarite-is-interweaving-buddhas-teachings-with-dhrupad-in-a-leap-of-artistic-faith">https://scroll.in/magazine/1020101/an-ambedkarite-is-interweaving-buddhas-teachings-with-dhrupad-in-a-leap-of-artistic-faith</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/why-devanoora-mahadevas-new-kannada.html&source=gmail&ust=1658550123226000&usg=AOvVaw0OGLwXD1KxJ5_v-Uu9kBVR" href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/why-devanoora-mahadevas-new-kannada.html" style="color: blue;" target="_blank"><span>Why Devanoora Mahadeva’s New Kannada Book Has Left the Sangh Fuming</span></a></span></u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p></div><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/salaam-comrade.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Salaam
Comrade</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Forgotten Life Sentence of Comrade
Ramchandra Singh, a Prisoner of Memories. By S. Anand<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/maoism-and-philosophy-of-insurrection.html">Maoism and the philosophy of insurrection</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/05/baldev-singh-mann-my-darling-daughter.html">Baldev Singh
Mann: ‘My darling daughter!’</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/01/remembering-rabindra.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Remembering
Rabindra</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/some-uncomfortable-thoughts-on-urban.html"><span lang="EN-US">Some uncomfortable thoughts on 'urban naxals'</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-naxalbari-forty-eight-years-later.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Naxalbari, forty-eight years later</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/11/suhas-palshikar-disenfranchising-other.html"><span lang="EN-US">Suhas Palshikar - Disenfranchising The ‘Other’ //
Ajaz Ashraf interviews Ashis Nandy on the future of India</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/suhas-palshikar-bhoomi-pujan-of-new.html">Suhas Palshikar:
Bhoomi pujan of the new republic // Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Political colonisation
of Hinduism</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/08/closing-circle-article-on-revolution-in.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-IN">
Dilip Simeon: Closing the Circle: On Revolution (Frontier, 2012)</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-48405141667761533622022-07-21T21:07:00.016-07:002022-07-21T21:15:33.382-07:00 Why Devanoora Mahadeva’s New Kannada Book Has Left the Sangh Fuming<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/kannada-author-devanoora-mahadeva-fills-the-silence-takes-rss-head-on-in-his-68-page-book/1048805/">Yogendra Yadav: Devanoora Mahadeva fills the silence</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">An iconic Kannada literary figure, a towering public intellectual and a revered political activist in Karnataka. Shy and self-effacing to a point that you begin to wonder why he is in public life. He has a knack of disappearing from any public attention. As you suddenly notice his absence from the dais, someone helpfully explains: he may have stepped out for a smoke. Invariably and annoyingly late, even by my standards, Mahadeva is always a little out of sorts, a bit disheveled. His is not a carefully designed carelessness of a bohemian poet. It is just that his life has a different rhythm and radically different set of priorities than you would imagine a famous man to have.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh, I forgot to say, he is Dalit. But now don’t rush to call him a Dalit writer or a Dalit activist. That would be a serious misrecognition, a category mistake. We don’t describe Shekhar Gupta as a bania intellectual, notwithstanding his touching, unadulterated faith in the markets. I am not described (hopefully) as an OBC intellectual, despite my strident position on reservations or caste census. Similarly, calling Devanoora Mahadeva a Dalit intellectual won’t tell us much about him, except his social origins, the social milieu that he writes about, and the cultural resources he draws upon. Unlike many Dalit activists, he refuses to play the angry Dalit and limit his horizons to one section of humanity. He aims at nothing less than truth in its entirety.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In doing so, he refuses to accept the age-old division of intellectual labour that has continued seamlessly in our times. The outcastes, modern Dalits and OBCs can at best aspire to be their own advocates, in-charge of a slice of truth. Brahmins are meant to be non-partisan arbiters of truth, transcending their accident of birth, extending their empathy to everyone, including the Shudras. Mahadeva defies these roles and extends interpretative charity to everyone, including the upper caste characters in his fiction. His politics embraces entire humanity and beyond, including nature....</span></p><p><a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/kannada-author-devanoora-mahadeva-fills-the-silence-takes-rss-head-on-in-his-68-page-book/1048805/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://theprint.in/opinion/kannada-author-devanoora-mahadeva-fills-the-silence-takes-rss-head-on-in-his-68-page-book/1048805/</span></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://thewire.in/books/devanuru-mahadevas-new-kannada-book-rss-sangh"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rakshith S. Ponnathpur</span>: <span style="font-family: verdana;">Devanoora Mahadeva’s New Kannada Book Has Left the Sangh Fuming</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Karnataka’s civil
society is abuzz with a newly released Kannada book, Devanoora Mahadeva’s <i>RSS
– Aala Mattu Agala</i> (RSS – Its Depth and Breadth). A critical
exploration of the RSS, the book has been flying off the shelves since its
release, prompting the state’s right-wing ecosystem to unleash all its arms to
discredit both the book and its author.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Vishweshwara Bhat,
senior journalist and chief-editor of the leading right-leaning Kannada
daily <i>Vishwawani</i>, took to Twitter to call it a “piece of trash.”
Rohit Chakratirtha, the erstwhile head of the controversial textbook revision
committee, wrote a slanderous op-ed in another right-leaning daily, <i>Hosa
Digantha</i>. Right-leaning news channels have been running prejudicial panels
on the book all week. One of the publishers informs me that more than 10,000
copies of the book have already been sold and around 70,000 copies are in print
based on placed orders and the ever-increasing demand.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Devanoora Mahadeva has
adopted a unique distribution strategy of allowing multiple publishers to
publish the book in different regions of Karnataka, without expecting any
royalty. As many as six Kannada publishers – big and small – are already
distributing these books across the state, with more joining the bandwagon
given the overwhelming demand for the book. Although only the Kannada original
is out for sale, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, and English translations are
underway....<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://thewire.in/books/devanuru-mahadevas-new-kannada-book-rss-sangh"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://thewire.in/books/devanuru-mahadevas-new-kannada-book-rss-sangh</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-supreme-court-gandhi-and-rss.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Supreme
Court, Gandhi and the RSS</span></a></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/aao-secular-secular-khelein.html">Aao, secular secular khelein</a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2013/11/modi-says-congress-committed-sin-of.html">Non-politics of the RSS</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat Bhushan: New Bharatiya Janata Party's troubled road ahead / Sickular Libtard: Nupurgate and after</span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/what-veneration-of-gandhis-killer-says.html">What the Veneration of Gandhi’s Killer Says About India. By Yasmeen Serhan</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/11/rss-and-modi-brazenly-intimidating.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;">RSS and Modi brazenly intimidating the Supreme Court</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/former-civil-servants-write-to-pm-take.html"><span lang="EN-US">Former
Civil Servants Write to the PM: ‘Take Effective Action Now’ / The BJP Can Be
Defeated but the RSS Project Remains</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk77409911"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/swati-chaturvedi-it-was-bjp-who-made-it.html"><span lang="EN-GB">Swati
Chaturvedi: It Was BJP Who Made It Mamata vs Modi. Too Far</span></a><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/04/anil-nauriya-manufacturing-memory.html"><span lang="EN-US">ANIL NAURIYA: Manufacturing Memory</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/09/ayush-chaturvedi-main-gandhi-ke-saath.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ayush Chaturvedi: Main Gandhi ke saath hun // Samar
Halarnkar: In the time of Godse, a search for Hindus who will stand with Gandhi</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/10/rabindranath-tagores-essay-on-cult-of.html">Rabindranath
Tagore's essay on the cult of the nation</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-philosophy-of-number.html"><span lang="EN-US">The
Philosophy of Number</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/05/sabyasachi-bhattacharya-antinomies-of.html">Sabyasachi Bhattacharya - Antinomies of
Nationalism and Rabindranath Tagore</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/11/purushottam-agarwal-nehrus.html">Purushottam Agrawal - Nehru's Spectacularly
Indian Vision and the Wrath of the RSS</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-emperors-masks-apolitical-rss-calls.html">The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls
the shots in Modi sarkar</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/10/tears-give-way-to-rage-in-sunpedh.html"><span lang="EN-US">Tears
give way to rage in Sunpedh village, CBI to investigate Dalit killing</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Asim Ali - Collective surrender The story
of New India is not being written by Narendra Modi alone<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html">Society of the
Spectacle / '<b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">इमेज</span></b>' - 'Image': A
Poem on Deaths in the Age of Covid</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/some-uncomfortable-thoughts-on-urban.html"><span lang="EN-US">Some
uncomfortable thoughts on 'urban naxals'</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Communalism in Modern India:
A Theoretical Examination (1986)<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/kuldeep-kumar-short-history-of-rss-and.html"><span lang="EN-US">KULDEEP
KUMAR - A Short History of the RSS and BJP’s Double Standard on Sedition</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/question-that-stays-with-me-ravish.html"><span lang="HI">एक</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">बात</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">हमेशा</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">ज़हन</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">में</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">सवाल</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">खड़े</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">करती</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">है</span> A question that stays with me... / Ravish
Kumar's Speech at Berkeley (2019)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/03/report-of-commission-of-inquiry-into.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Assassination
of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-abolition-of-truth_29.html">The Abolition of
truth</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://hindu.com/2004/09/18/stories/2004091803791000.htm" target="_blank">The Savarkarist
syntax</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/socrates-if-whole-is-ailing-part-cannot.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Socrates: If the whole is ailing the part cannot be
well / Ajit Prakash Shah: Darkness at noon, felled by the judiciary</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-whiff-of-evil.html">A whiff of evil</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-broken-middle.html">The Broken Middle
- on the 30th anniversary of 1984</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/01/some-information-for-israelis-and-rest.html">Some information
for Israelis (and the rest of us)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/anand-k-sahay-idea-behind-capturing.html">Anand K. Sahay:
The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-12287023138121796062022-07-21T04:49:00.015-07:002022-07-21T04:54:45.153-07:00100 days of hunger strike: FREE ALAA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN EGYPT<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">To German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the UN Secretary-General and all global leaders attending COP27 in Egypt:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #ffe599; font-family: verdana;"><i>As citizens from across the world horrified by Egypt's human rights violations, including the unlawful imprisonment of Alaa Abd el-Fattah and thousands of other political prisoners, we call on you to use all your diplomatic and financial means to bring about the immediate and unequivocal release of Alaa, to ensure Egypt releases its political prisoners ahead of the UN Climate Summit COP27 and reopens its civic space in a meaningful way. You have the power to push for human rights in Egypt – we count on you to use it.</i></span></p><p><a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/free_alaa_global_2/?kiQPaab"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/free_alaa_global_2/?kiQPaab</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a vital voice of the Arab spring, is one of </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">at least 60,000 people jailed by Egypt’s regime on political grounds</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">. For over 100 days, he has been on hunger strike, surviving on a daily spoon of honey. Now, ahead of a global climate summit hosted in Egypt, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">calls are mounting for the prisoners' release – and basic guarantees</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;"> for all attendees of the summit.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">If by November's COP27 climate summit, Egypt has not freed its political prisoners, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">activists who come to protest for the planet might also end up in jail</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">, and the whole meeting will be a sham! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">Join the global call for freedom -- and we will take our plea to key governments, the media, and the UN.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #121213;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;"></strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #121213;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">#FreeAlaa</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;"><br /></strong></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-universal-declaration-of-human.html"><span lang="EN-US">The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/12/giulio-regeni-murder-egypt-rejects.html"><span lang="EN-US">Giulio
Regeni murder: Egypt rejects naming of its agents as suspects</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;">
</strong></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/italy-charges-egyptian-security-agency.html">Italy
charges Egyptian security agency officials over murder of Giulio Regeni //
Hundreds have died in Egyptian custody, says report</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;"></strong></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #121213;"><br /></strong></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-12028332274924913892022-07-20T22:09:00.007-07:002022-07-20T22:09:41.695-07:00Adam Ramsay: The world burns and the richest profit. It doesn’t have to be this way / Banks are incentivised to fund climate chaos<span style="font-family: verdana;">The last time there was open war between major European powers was in 1945. The last time the Northern Hemisphere was this hot was probably 125,000 years ago. Yet the FTSE 100 is worth more than ever, corporate profits are higher than ever, there are more British billionaires than ever. And oil companies are richer than ever. If we took climate change seriously, the petroleum industry would be bankrupt. These firms borrow billions against the future value of reserves they are yet to drill, but atmospheric physics demands we can’t burn that carbon if we wish civilisation to survive.<br /><br />If our modern societies are to continue to exist in recognisable form, oil companies’ assets are worthless. And if we aren’t, they are still worthless...<br /><br /></span><div><a href="#"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/heatwave-climate-crisis-nhs-fossil-fuel-capitalism-hunger/</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/bank-fossil-fuel-investment-finance-climate-change/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Banks are incentivised to fund climate chaos. Here’s how to change that</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The world’s largest banks are investing billions into heavily polluting industries, despite publicly endorsing measures intended to combat the climate crisis. The banking system is being financially incentivised to prioritise the still-profitable oil, gas and coal industries over long-term investments in emerging renewable technologies – and is likely to continue doing so without strict political oversight.<br /><br />In March, a report entitled ‘Banking on Climate Chaos’ <a href="https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD-1.pdf">revealed</a> that, despite the use of cynical PR tactics and attempts to ‘offset’ carbon emissions through carbon reduction initiatives, the 60 largest private banks in the world had poured $4.6tn (£3.8tn) into fossil fuels since the 2015 Paris Agreement.<br /><br />Barclays Bank, according to the report, had provided the equivalent of £4.1bn for new fossil fuel projects between January 2021 and the COP26 summit in November 2021. JP Morgan Chase, however, was named as the most egregious polluter, with over $382bn in new fossil fuel investments between 2016 and 2021. The bank had set a number of misleading decarbonisation targets the previous year, <a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/news/fortune-how-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-banks-plans-to-tackle-climate-change">pledging</a> to reduce the intensity of its emissions, a measure that still permitted overall future fossil fuel investments to increase...<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/bank-fossil-fuel-investment-finance-climate-change/</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/our-leaders-look-climate-change-in-eyes.html">Our leaders look climate change in the
eyes, and shrug / Siberian heatwave led to new methane emissions / Terrifying
documentary on US wildfires</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/aseem-shrivastava-age-gone-blind.html"><span lang="EN-US">Aseem
Shrivastava: An Age gone blind // Mallika Bhanot - Char Dham Pariyojana: A High
Risk Engineering Exercise</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/this-obscure-energy-treaty-is-greatest.html"><span lang="EN-US">This
obscure energy treaty is the greatest threat to the planet you’ve never heard
of</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/erin-brockovich-plummeting-sperm-counts.html"><span lang="EN-US">Erin
Brockovich - Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals
threaten humanity</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/07/rebecca-smithers-we-are-flushing-away.html">REBECCA SMITHERS
- We Are Flushing Away Our Forests: Researchers warn that toilet paper is
becoming unsustainable</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/david-cox-planets-prodigious-poo-problem.html">David Cox - The
planet's prodigious poo problem</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/03/owen-jones-why-dont-we-treat-climate.html"><span lang="EN-US">Owen Jones: Why don’t we treat the climate crisis
with the same urgency as coronavirus?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/26/dod-126-bases-report-water-contaminants-harmful-to-infant-development-tied-to-cancers/">"DoD: At Least 126 Bases Report Water
Contaminants Linked to Cancer, Birth Defects"</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/john-sentamu-its-time-to-act-against.html"><span lang="EN-US">John Sentamu - It’s time to act against the oil
companies causing death and destruction</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/mau-piailug-pius-mau-piailug-master.html">Pius Mau Piailug, master navigator</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/australia-has-new-left-leaning.html"><span lang="EN-US">Australia
has a new left-leaning government</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/11/from-siberia-to-australia-age-of-fire.html"><span lang="EN-US">From Siberia to Australia: the age of fire is the
bleakest warning yet</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/07/australian-bushman-claims-to-have.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-IN">Footage of the legendary Australian night
parrot</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">, </span></u><u><span style="color: blue;">a
bird not seen alive for a century<o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/01/travis-waldron-brazil-is-about-to-show.html">Travis Waldron -
Brazil Is About To Show The World How A Modern Democracy Collapses</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/01/jair-bolsonaro-launches-assault-on.html">Jair Bolsonaro
launches assault on Amazon rainforest protections</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-amazon-is-burning-climate-is.html"><span lang="EN-US">The Amazon is burning. The climate is changing. And
we're doing nothing to stop it</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/money-to-burn-over-300-banks-and.html"><span lang="EN-US">MONEY TO BURN: Over 300 banks and investors back 6
of the world’s most harmful</span></a></span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/money-to-burn-over-300-banks-and.html"><span lang="EN-US"> agribusinesses to the tune of $44bn</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/01/matt-sheehan-silent-documentary-on.html"><span lang="EN-US">Matt
Sheehan - Silent documentary on China's unspooling environmental disasters</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-72033851885253440292022-07-20T20:51:00.005-07:002022-07-20T20:58:23.312-07:00 Starry, starry night: For Vincent van Gogh<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgb5gAoSAuVR3o8AnEJeWivV1mt5iv-1cyZwLAuEyZozyhsejlbTeywimo5TT97Yarb7IJ6N5hGhabLS3colJTfjygHZ-3Gxa017bfOdbJnR6Ag6Udm5R5fAg2IiAg9A1RbdgHg6OJU37eqAEvqs-j3inPf1Wskjqwaxkfo9XBnROnu4l67U81DMY553g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="405" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgb5gAoSAuVR3o8AnEJeWivV1mt5iv-1cyZwLAuEyZozyhsejlbTeywimo5TT97Yarb7IJ6N5hGhabLS3colJTfjygHZ-3Gxa017bfOdbJnR6Ag6Udm5R5fAg2IiAg9A1RbdgHg6OJU37eqAEvqs-j3inPf1Wskjqwaxkfo9XBnROnu4l67U81DMY553g=w320-h254" width="320" /></a></div></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="#">Starry, starry night</a><br /><i>Paint your palette blue and gray<br />Look out on a summer's day<br />With eyes that know the darkness in my soul<br />Shadows on the hills<br /><br /></i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Sketch the trees and the daffodils<br />Catch the breeze and the winter chills<br />In colors on the snowy, linen land<br />Now, I understand what you tried to say to me</i><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #ffe599; font-family: times; font-size: small;">Oil-on-canvas painting by Vincent van Gogh; June 1889</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #ffe599; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">It depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>And how you suffered for your sanity<br />And how you tried to set them free<br />They would not listen, they did not know how<br />Perhaps they'll listen now<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Starry, starry night<br />Flaming flowers that brightly blaze<br />Swirling clouds in violet haze<br />Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Colors changing hue<br />Morning fields of amber grain<br />Weathered faces lined in pain<br />Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Now, I understand, what you tried to say to me<br />How you suffered for your sanity<br />How you tried to set them free<br />They would not listen, they did not know how<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Perhaps they'll listen now<br />For they could not love you<br />But still your love was true<br />And when no hope was left inside<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>On that starry, starry night<br />You took your life as lovers often do<br />But I could have told you, Vincent<br />This world was never meant for one<br />As beautiful as you<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Starry, starry night<br />Portraits hung in empty halls<br />Frameless heads on nameless walls<br />With eyes that watch the world and can't forget<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Like the strangers that you've met<br />The ragged men in ragged clothes<br />The silver thorn of bloody rose<br />Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Now, I think I know what you tried to say to me<br />How you suffered for your sanity<br />How you tried to set them free<br />They would not listen, they're not listening still<br />Perhaps they never will</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">A tribute by Don Mclean</span><br /><a href="goog_491042281"><br /></a><a href="#">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD1ih3Q9otE</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hâfez, </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/70582" style="font-family: verdana;">The Subject Tonight Is Love</a></div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />Build a House for men and birds.<br />Sit with them and play music.</i></span><div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />For a day, for just one day,<br />talk about that which disturbs no one<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: verdana;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">and bring some peace,<br />my friend,<br />into your beautiful eyes</i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="ujudUb WRZytc" jsname="U8S5sf" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="ujudUb WRZytc" jsname="U8S5sf" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-35512839745745178832022-07-19T21:47:00.019-07:002022-07-19T22:03:47.846-07:00Book review: Sumit Guha's History and Collective Memory in South Asia, 1200-2000<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">'Our times are testing the truth of Orwell's bitter aphorism "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past" ': From Guha's preface to his new book.. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>Historians always work in evolving political contexts that influence their knowledge and narratives. This cultural reality provides a framework for Sumit Guha’s imaginative analysis of how the collective memories that shape human societies are contingent and fragile because they are embedded within the changing institutional systems of social and political life. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In <i><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-book-by-sumit-guha-history-and.html">History and Collective Memory in South Asia, 1200–2000</a></i>, Guha analyzes the processes of remembering and forget- ting in South Asian cultures, but similar sociocultural patterns have also appeared in almost every other human society.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Reviewed by Lloyd Kramer</b></span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Historical knowledge serves numerous public needs, including the need for governments and social elites to justify their power and the need for cultural communities to sustain shared collective identities. Historians therefore have an essential public role for which they have often been supported in schools, religious orders, government libraries, and universities, which Guha describes as the “cloistered” institutions that produce and teach historical knowledge (4). This link to institutions, however, makes historical knowledge vulnerable to changing political regimes and to popular upheavals in the social world that always surrounds the cloisters in which experts construct their historical narratives....</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Although he provincializes European claims for unique historiographical traditions and methods, he also defends the Rankean belief in the documentary foundation of fact-based historical knowledge. Guha thus views the commitment to evidence-based knowledge as an essential cultural value that should never be dismissed as simply a Eurocentric ideology. Documentary evidence, as he correctly insists, provides valid criteria for historical truth in South Asia and in every other society that seeks to establish reliable knowledge about its own past. This commitment to evidence-based historical knowledge, however, leads Guha to an unexpected critique of historians who draw radical relativist implications from the argument that narrative choices shape the construction of all historical knowledge....<br /><br />It is certainly true that all narratives are constructed, but Guha skillfully shows (and almost all historians would agree) that some narratives are far more truthful than others because the best historical accounts are based on documentary evidence and other verifiable sources. Guha’s analysis of South Asian historians thus uses evidence-based criteria to explain why some constructed narratives are more valid than others. His concluding lament about a misguided academic acceptance of the postmodern emphasis on the shaping power of narratives seems to be refuted by the critical assessments of different textual constructions in his own impressive book.<br /><br />My questions about the impact of changing technologies and the ongoing evaluation of truth claims in historical narratives suggest some of the key issues that Guha’s book encourages readers to continue exploring in our “post-truth” historical era. Although he develops an insightful account of the ways in which historical knowledge evolved in specific South Asian cultures, Guha also shows how this long-developing cultural history challenges traditional narratives about European exceptionalism, confirms the influence of cross-cultural exchanges, demonstrates the complex hybridity of colonial and postcolonial ideologies, and exemplifies the continual intersection of historical knowledge and public conflicts. Guha’s emphasis on the contingency of historical knowledge and the vulnerability of experts also reminds professional historians that sociopolitical forces affect the narratives they write as well as the economic resources that support their privileged positions. Historians thus remain vulnerable to the revolutionary upheavals they like to study from the safety of their cloistered positions.<br /><br />Perhaps the current vulnerability of professional historians results partly from a gradual twentieth-century scholarly withdrawal from intellectual engagements with public life and public history. Given the pressing need for historical narratives in public life and in the cultural defense of collective identities, there will always be (nonexpert) groups who want to fill the public historical vacuum that exists when historians argue only among themselves. The historians’ long-term retreat to university cloisters has become increasingly problematic amid the recent populist upheavals around the world, but these unsettling events may now be forcing historians to become more aware of their connections to the public sphere. This awareness could grow in all national cultures as university-based historians struggle to maintain student enrollments and financial resources - and as activist groups constantly develop self-supporting historical narratives in the popular media that flourish outside academic cloisters.<br /><br />Sumit Guha’s well-argued, well-researched account of collective memory in the longue durée of South Asian history thus helps historians understand the enduring connections between historical knowledge and the struggle for power in public cultures. Cloistered historical experts who find themselves increasingly besieged by twenty-first-century culture wars and polarizing political conflicts might turn to Guha’s narrative for transcultural perspectives on their current challenges. They may also draw on his perceptive analysis of South Asian historical narratives to understand more clearly why they must engage with public cultures beyond their cloisters and defend the evidence-based historical knowledge that others will denounce, distort, or ignore.<br /><br /><a href="#">https://www.resenhacritica.com.br/tag/history-and-collective-memory-in-south-asia-1200-2000-t/</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/sumit-guha-lectures-on-asia-europe-and.html" style="background: transparent; color: blue;">Sumit Guha lectures on Asia, Europe and America in the Making of 'Caste'</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white;"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/03/sumit-guha-glimpsed-in-archive-and.html" style="background: transparent; outline: 0px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Sumit Guha: Glimpsed in the Archive and Known no More: One Indian Slave’s Tale</span></a><span style="color: #000f35;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/06/book-review-sumit-guhas-new-book-on.html" style="background: transparent; color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Book review: Sumit Guha's new book on the history of caste</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/book-review-fashionable-nonsense-20.html">Book Review: “Fashionable Nonsense” 20
Years Later</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/jon-henley-rise-of-far-right-puts.html">Jon Henley: Rise of far right puts Dreyfus
affair into spotlight in French election</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/09/why-cant-we-agree-on-whats-true-any.html">Why can’t we agree on what’s true anymore?
By William Davies</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/12/richard-evans-film-denial-shows-there.html"><span lang="EN-US">Richard Evans: the film Denial shows there is such a thing as truth</span></a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/08/keith-kahn-harris-denialism-what-drives.html"><span lang="EN-US">Keith
Kahn-Harris - Denialism: what drives people to reject the truth</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/science-society-and-related-matters.html"><span lang="EN-US">Science,
society and related matters: an exchange</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/01/two-lectures-on-time-and-ideology.html">Two lectures on time and ideology: January
23 and 24</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-pre-history-of-post-truth-east-and.html">A pre-history of post-truth, East and West.
By MARCI SHORE</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/08/venu-sundaram-uphaar-and-curious-case.html"><span lang="EN-US">VENU
SUNDARAM: Uphaar - the Curious Case of the Judges Who Wouldn’t Listen</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35;">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: white; color: #000f35; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></p></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-6348420137439379162022-07-19T20:43:00.002-07:002022-07-19T20:43:20.464-07:00Mani Chander: Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens<span style="font-family: verdana;">New Delhi: <i>Bewajaah koi bhi sadak par ikattha bilkul na ho jisse poori millat ko nuksaan uthaana pade, jumma padhein aur apne ghar jaakar dua kariye aman aur shanti mohobbat kaayam rahe</i>. Do not gather on the road together without reason, the entire community will have to bear the brunt. Read your Friday prayers, go home and pray that harmony, peace and love will prevail.<br /><br />This was what Javed Mohammed, 54, wrote on Facebook on 11:12 am on 10 June 2022, among other appeals he made for peace on Facebook and Whatsapp (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/100002740908697/posts/pfbid024ghZs6T8BBoEAkKPCeyHhJ4GDbmQ3wMvFWXXs7a5fxefQ58CAdyMyKBif6DXZsxVl">here</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/100002740908697/posts/pfbid02U3fqkq62JLkY7M6GfBBTSKRQWe6ZAqGjhFREeUiJJRNmfAXhwKru8YdikoyURbE1l/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2022/06/13/support-grows-for-javed-mohammed-whose-house-in-prayagraj-was-demolished.html">here</a>) to address resentment felt by Muslims, 14 days after a spokesperson of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made abusive comments about the Prophet Mohammed.<br /><br />It was on 26 May 2022 that Nupur Sharma, later removed as BJP spokesperson, made those remarks during prime-time national television debates on News24, Republic TV and Times Now, sparking outrage, both nationally and <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/india/iran-kuwait-summon-indian-envoy-over-prophet-remarks">globally</a>, and spurring <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/protests-erupt-in-several-parts-of-india-over-remarks-on-prophet/articleshow/92126195.cms">protests</a> across the country.<br /><br />The Facebook timeline of Mohammed, a leader of the little but locally known 11-year-old <a href="https://twitter.com/WelfarePartyIN?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Welfare Party of India</a>, revealed that one of his posts calling for peace was made hours prior to the protests turning <a href="https://theprint.in/politics/protests-erupt-in-prayagraj-other-parts-of-up-over-nupur-sharmas-inflammatory-remarks-cm-yogi-orders-strict-action-against-hooligans/991457/">violent</a> in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh (UP), on 10 June. On 11 June, the local police <a href="https://maktoobmedia.com/2022/06/11/javed-mohds-arrest-up-police-say-father-daughter-duo-propaganda-critics-slam-harassment-of-activists-family/">arrested</a> Mohammed. Later, his wife and daughter were allegedly <a href="https://article-14.com/post/-it-could-happen-to-any-muslim-family-a-student-activist-on-her-father-s-arrest-demolition-of-her-home-62a5e50c79ac1">picked</a> up during the night by the police, who now accuse Mohammed of being the “<a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/india/nupur-sharma-controversy-uttar-pradesh-arrests-friday-prayers-violence">mastermind</a>” behind the protests.<br /><br />The man who set off the cycle of events, Mohammed Zubair, an engineer, fact-checker and co-founder of <a href="https://www.altnews.in/">Alt News</a>, and frequent target of attacks by Hindu extremists for calling out fake news, doctored videos and lies, became an ever-greater target after <a href="https://twitter.com/zoo_bear/status/1530066557191131142?s=20&t=1ne4U6-Xy0BuLGamH32x_A">drawing attention</a> to a clip of a 26 May Times Now debate where Sharma made those remarks. <br /><br />Although this was the proximate reason Zubair attracted the attention of right-wing trolls, The Wire’s 2 July 2022 <a href="https://thewire.in/tekfog/altnews.html">investigation</a> showed that he had been the target of a <a href="https://thewire.in/tekfog/altnews.html">years-long campaign</a> to discredit and implicate him. ...<br /><br /><a href="#">https://article-14.com/post/jailed-or-punished-with-or-without-trial-how-the-state-misuses-the-law-against-india-s-inconvenient-citizens-62d615129ab71</a></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/javed-anand-vishwaguru-fantasy.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Javed Anand: The vishwaguru fantasy</span></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/05/julio-ribeiro-burying-karkare-i-cannot.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Julio Ribeiro - Burying Karkare: I cannot let these
forces go unchallenged</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/11/terrifying-implications-of-scs-staines.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Terrifying implications of the SC's Staines
Judgement</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/prashant-bhushan-another-arresting.html"><span lang="EN-US">Prashant
Bhushan: Another ‘Arresting’ Judgment in Favour of BJP and Narendra Modi</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/totally-illegal-says-ex-cj-of-allahabad.html"><span lang="EN-US">Totally
illegal, says ex-CJ of Allahabad High Court; bulldozer cases in limbo /
Owaisi's questions for Yogi govt</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/photos-emerge-of-udaipur-killers-links.html"><span lang="EN-US">Photos
Emerge of Udaipur Killer’s Links to BJP Leaders</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy.html"><span lang="EN-US">Indian
Muslims for Secular Democracy support free speech; condemn hate speech, death
threats / Media coverage of IMSD Statement</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/i-will-probably-die-express-editorial.html">"I will probably die" - Express
Editorial on Stan Swamy // A Requiem for Father Stan Swamy: Justice of the
Supreme Court (Retd) Madan Lokur</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/stan-swamy-dead-elgar-parishad-case-7389891/">Waiting for medical bail, ailing
84-year-old passes away</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/father-stan-swamy-id-rather-suffer.html">Father Stan Swamy: I’d rather suffer,
possibly die if things go on as it is</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/wanted-immediate-justice-in-bhima.html">WANTED: Immediate Justice in the
Bhima-Koregaon Conspiracy. By Cedric Prakash</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-judiciary-is-defence-of-innocent-or.html"><span lang="EN-IN">The
Judiciary is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought...</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/kunal-kamra-and-elasticity-of-justice.html">Kunal Kamra and the Elasticity of Justice.
By Avay Shukla</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/justice-not-about-money-punish-officers.html"><span lang="EN-US">Justice
not about money… punish officers responsible: father of killed Naga miner /
Meghalaya to urge Centre to repeal AFSPA / Nagaland killings: Direct
marise…they shot right at us, no signal to stop, we did not flee, says ambush
survivor</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/04/blog-post.html"><span lang="HI">मुझे</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">पूरी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">उम्मीद</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">है</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">कि</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">आप</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">अपनी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">बारी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">आने</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">से</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">पहले</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">बोलेंगे</span><span lang="EN-US">- </span><span lang="HI">डॉ</span><span lang="EN-US">.</span><span lang="HI">आनंद</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">तेलतुंबड़े</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/avay-shukla-its-time-to-be-outraged-my.html"><span lang="EN-US">Avay
Shukla: IT'S TIME TO BE OUTRAGED , MY LORDS.</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/samar-halarnkar-how-indias-justice.html">Samar Halarnkar - How India's justice
system is giving in to the mob</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/govt-wants-to-cage-women-who-speak.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Govt
wants to cage women who speak against it, say Narwal & Kalita as they and
Asif Tanha walk free / Delhi HC criticises 'wanton, frivolous use of UAPA by
the State' / P.B. Mehta: Has the blackbox of UAPA finally been opened?</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-54018170599691068532022-07-19T19:39:00.001-07:002022-07-19T19:39:13.291-07:00Samyukt Kisan Morcha rejects Centre’s MSP panel, says it includes leaders who supported farm laws<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions, on Tuesday rejected the Union government’s committee on Minimum Support Price, or MSP, reported PTI. The body, which spearheaded the protest against the now-repealed farm laws, said that the “so-called farmer leaders” who supported the legislations are members of the panel. Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar told PTI that the government has included leaders who did not have anything to do with the farm law protests.<br /><br />The Minimum Support Price is the rate at which the government buys farm produce and is based on a calculation of at least one-and-a-half times the cost of production incurred by farmers. Market rates for many crops are usually well below the Minimum Support Price.Farmer leaders have been demanding that the minimum support price guarantee be extended to all produce, not just rice and wheat.<br /><br />The committee on Minimum Support Price was formed on Monday, eight months after the Centre promised to set up such a panel as it withdrew the <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/1010920/pm-modi-says-centre-will-repeal-three-new-farm-laws">three contentious farm laws</a>. Former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal will be the chairperson of the committee. The panel will include NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand, agriculture economists CSC Shekhar and Sukhpal Singh and Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices member Naveen P Singh....<br /><br /><a href="https://scroll.in/latest/1028588/samyukt-kisan-morcha-rejects-centres-msp-panel-says-it-includes-leaders-who-supported-farm-laws">https://scroll.in/latest/1028588/samyukt-kisan-morcha-rejects-centres-msp-panel-says-it-includes-leaders-who-supported-farm-laws</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/farm-laws-repealed-huge-victory-for.html"><span lang="EN-US">Farm
laws repealed - Huge victory for India's agricultural population after a
year-long non-violent struggle, and hundreds of lives lost</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/p-sainath-farmers-win-on-many-fronts.html"><span lang="EN-US">P.
Sainath: Farmers win on many fronts, media fails on all / </span><span lang="EN-US">रवि</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आजाद</span><span lang="EN-US"> BKU
HARYANA | Kisan Ekta Morcha</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk92200072"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/bharat-bhushan-scania-scandal-need-to.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200072;"><span lang="EN-GB">Bharat
Bhushan - Scania Scandal: Need to step up to the challenge</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200072;"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200072;"></span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/bharat-bhushan-entire-political-science.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200072;">Bharat Bhushan - 'Entire political science' lesson:
Peoples' power trumps people in power</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200072;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200072;"></span>
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/aryaman-jain-irina-cheema-farmers.html"><span lang="EN-US">Aryaman
Jain, Irina Cheema - Farmers’ Movement in India: A Moment for Collective
Introspection / Gallery: One Year of Kisan Andolan</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">संयुक्त</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">किसान</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोर्चा</span><span lang="EN-US"> : </span><span lang="EN-US">श्री</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">नरेंद्र</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">प्रधानमंत्री</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">भारत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">सरकार</span><span lang="EN-US"> - </span><span lang="EN-US">राष्ट्र</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">नाम</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आपका</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">संदेश</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">और</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आपके</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">नाम</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">किसानों</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">का</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">संदेश</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/surinder-s-jodhka-changing-modes-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Surinder
S. Jodhka: Changing Modes of Agriculture in Punjab</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk77340519"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/jairus-banaji-on-indian-corporatist.html" target="_blank"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk77340519;">Jairus
Banaji on the Indian corporate strategy of subordinating farm households and
family labor</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk77340519;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk77340519;"></span>
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/indian-farmers-protest-work-in-progress.html">Indian Farmers' Protest - Work in progress
videos</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com